Tips for Using ISO Settings in Photography

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When you as a photographer—amateur or professional, analog or digital–practice your craft or hobby, you will at one time or another become acquainted with the three letters ISO. If the camera does not get enough light onto the sensor or film, the images will be too dark.

To correct this you can set a higher value on the ISO. All photographers are dependent on light and lighting conditions can be very variable at different locations or times of day. The ISO value is for that reason an important tool that allows the photographer to be able to work effectively in many different lighting conditions.

ISO value has influence on the shutter speed and aperture for any photo shoot. Deep in the rain forest, to a concert or a moonlight walk, where there is little light available, it will by using this tool will be possible to get excellent pictures without using a tripod. This is one of the reasons why the digital cameras has made it much easier to be a photographer.

ISO Indicates the Sensitivity of the Image Sensor

With ISO (International Standards Organization, previously known as ASA), we mean how quickly a film or digital sensor is capable of recording light. An image sensor set to ISO 100 requires twice as much light to achieve a normal exposure, as when the sensor is set to ISO 200.

In order to get twice the light the shutter speed must either be doubled (e.g., from 1/60 to 1/30 seconds) or the aperture must be opened up a whole f-stop (e.g., from f/5.6 to f/4).

That may not sound like a good idea to have to double the shutter speed so that we risk blurring the picture? Why doesn’t we always set the ISO speed as high as possible (e.g., ISO 1600) to obtain the fastest possible shutter speeds?

Higher ISO Values Produces More Noise

The downside of raising the ISO number is more noisy images – in the film world, this is a bit more romantically known as grain.

High ISO Entails Several Drawbacks

It is not just noise that increases with increased ISO settings. There are actually three “problems” that occur: increased noise, reduced sharpness and reduced contrast ratio.

High ISO = High Noise (Slightly exaggerated to show effect in this example)

The last two problems are usually marginal. The decrease in the sharpness of the increased noise that hides the details. Reduced contrast ratio refers to the ability to see details/nuances in the shadow areas as well as highlights.

Is Noise Always Negative?

People often tend to have a hard time telling the difference between images with low and high ISO speeds and very large prints. Therefore, it is difficult to choose which you prefer – a little “noise” doesn’t always disturb the picture. It may even bring a little feeling into the photo.

Different Cameras Provide Different Levels of Noise

Now you may think that you do not recognize this at all – when you test high ISO settings on your camera, the pictures may seem to be very noisy, much more noisy?

Yes, the noise is very different between different cameras and it has been an enormous development in recent years. If you have a compact camera, the risk that your images even at ISO 400 looks like ISO 3200 in other cameras. But if you use a modern digital SLR, you should be able to get great pictures even on ISO 800 and maybe even at higher ISO speeds if your camera allows it.

The problems we have these days when we assess the digital images is that we would look at them maximum zoomed in on the screen. However do not forget to relate to the possible noise you see to what size you actually use the image. Honestly, how many images to print larger than A5/A4?

How High ISO Should I Tolerate in My Camera?

Test your camera! Take a picture of the same motif with different ISO settings and print or send images to the photo lab. The most challenging is to shoot indoors in a low light setting. To try different ISO settings in daylight gives surprisingly comparable results, it is in low light conditions the major problems occur.

This is What You Gain by Increasing the ISO Settings

Now I have spent the whole article to explain the potential problems of raising the ISO. Let us finally turn to the issue and look at the opportunities provided by changing the ISO value.

By Raising the ISO Setting, You Can:

– Speed Up the Shutter Speed.

It is common to have problems getting fast shutter speeds when taking pictures indoors at night (= reduced risk of image blur). Although you may have opened the aperture to the max, you may even have to raise the ISO as high you think the quality will allow.

– Reduce the Aperture Setting.

Instead of changing the shutter speed, you can choose to reduce the aperture (for example, from f/4 to f/5.6) if you need a greater depth of field.

– Try a Combination of Both.

For example, if you raise the ISO setting from 100 to 400, you have doubled the ISO value in two steps. This allows for faster shutter speeds combined with reduced aperture, like going from 1/30 to 1/60 sec. (= 1 step) and f/4 to f/5.6 (= 1 step).

Is it Possible to Lower the ISO Setting From Time to Time?

The most common is that you want to increase the ISO value, but if there is a lot of light in the scene it can be justified to go the other way. Here are three examples:

Example 1:

You want to shoot a stream and use a slow shutter speed around half a second to get good-looking motion blur in the water.

Answer:

Here you must set the camera at lowest ISO. If the minimum aperture is still not enough, you must use a gray filter that reduces the light inlet.

Example 2:

You want to shoot with wide aperture to get the short depth of field on a sunny day. You have chosen the A/Aperture Value setting (Auto Aperture Priority) to get to choose f/2.8 aperture while the camera determines the shutter speed for you. The problem is that your images are overexposed at all times.

Answer:

A large aperture (comparable with a large pupil) on a sunny day means fast shutter speeds. Most cameras cannot capture images faster than 1/4000 or 1/8000 seconds, which may be too slow for the ISO number you selected. If you can, try to reduce the ISO to 100 or 50. If it is not enough, the only choice left is to buy a gray filter for the lens, which removes some of the sunlight.

Example 3:

You try to shoot indoors in a low light setting and has set the ISO at max, you have selected a large aperture and still think that the shutter speed is a bit too slow. You now turn on the flash and take the shot, however you notice that the picture becomes too bright. Despite the fact that you reduce the flash power all the images appear to be heavily overexposed.

Answer:

In extreme situations, the lowest effect of the flash can be too strong for the scene along with your choice of a high ISO number. The only opportunity to use flash in such a situation is to lower the ISO until you notice that the image becomes darker and then start to increase flash power again. From there, you will try to aim for a good balance between the ISO and the flash effect.

About the Author:
Morris Scjomin (dslrlensauctions) has been a professional photographer for over 10 years, practicing exclusively in the field of portraiture, still life, and documentary images.

Why a Standard Lens is Perfect for Street and Travel Photography

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Standard lenses (also called normal lenses) have a kind of mystique amongst photographers. Perhaps it’s because Henri Cartier-Bresson was famous for using one, maybe it has something to do with nostalgia for the times when most cameras came with a 50mm kit lens rather than the zooms that are common today. Regardless, if you are looking for a versatile prime lens for street or travel photography then a standard lens is an excellent choice. My 35mm prime (a standard lens on an APS-C camera) has become my favorite lens for street and travel photography.

f/1.4

Let’s start with some definitions.

A standard lens for a full-frame or 35mm film camera is a 50mm prime (one exception – Pentax makes a 43mm f/1.9 lens).

For an APS-C system a 35mm prime lens (such as the excellent 35mm f/1.4 lens made by Fujifilm) is a standard lens. Some photographers also consider a 28mm lens to be a standard.

For a Micro four-thirds camera you need a 25mm prime.

Last year I took a wide-angle lens, a standard lens and a short telephoto lens with me on a five week trip to China. I used them all for street photography, but when I analyzed the photos afterwards I realized that over 90% of them were taken with the standard lens (a 35mm f/1.4 prime). That trend continued during a later trip to Spain.

Here are some of the reasons that I used the standard lens so much more than the others, combined with some tips for making the most from them yourself.

1. Standard lenses have wide maximum apertures

Standard lenses typically have a maximum aperture somewhere between f/1.2 and f/2. This helps you take photos in low light, or use the wide aperture settings for selective focus, or both. This is really useful if you take photos in a street market or some other lively location at night, or inside a dimly lit building.

The photo above, taken in a historical building in Hangzhou, is a good example. The light was so low that I had to set the aperture to f/1.4 and ISO to 6400 to take the photo.

2. Standard lenses let you take photos in the street without getting too close to people

Standard lenses let you take candid photos of people in the street without getting too close. In China, I found that most people ignored me as I took photos with my 35mm lens. It may have helped that the Fuijfilm camera I used (an X-T1) is much smaller than a digital SLR and less intimidating. It may also have helped that the Chinese are such keen photographers that another person with a camera doesn’t draw much attention.

From a practical point of view, the standard lens lets you take photos of people without getting so close to them that you invade their personal space.

I spotted this man by the entrance of a restaurant in Hangzhou. His clothing and thoughtful pose caught my eye – I believe he was there to encourage people to come into the restaurant. It was only afterwards that I realized there was an interesting juxtaposition between him and the statue to his left.

You can take environmental portraits like this very easily with a standard lens.

Street Photography

3. You can use a standard lens to simplify the background

Street scenes are naturally chaotic, and it’s the photographer’s job to make some kind of visual order from this. The narrower field of view of standard lenses (compared to wide-angle lenses) means that you naturally include less background in your images. You can also throw the background at least slightly out of focus by selecting an aperture of f2.8 or wider. This is much harder to do with wide-angle lenses.

An image like this, taken in a street market in Xi’an, has a much tighter background than you would be able to get with a wide-angle lens. That helped me exclude other people from the scene and focus attention on the woman.

Simplify the Background

4. You can use a standard lens to capture details

Standard lenses are good for capturing details. Street photography is not just about making portraits. You can build up a feeling for a place by photographing details that capture its character and spirit.

Most standard lenses can focus quite closely to the subject, making them a very versatile lens for travel photography.

This photo of fish taken in a market in Cadiz, Spain is a good example.

Details

5. Use a standard lens to make a portrait of somebody with permission.

Standard lenses are ideal for portraits. They work well if you stop people in the street and ask if you can take their photo. While you could argue that a longer focal length will help you take portraits with a more flattering perspective, the advantage of a standard lens is that it is smaller and less intimidating to the person that you have approached. You are much more likely to get a natural response.

Earlier this year I went to Carnival in Cadiz. There were lots of people in costume, but only a few with face paint. When I saw somebody with interesting face paint I asked if I could take a photo. Every time I asked, the person said yes, and I took a couple of photos.

Here is one of them.

Portraits with Permission

6. You can capture scenes including people for scale or context

Standard lenses are good for capturing scenes which include people to give scale or context. The angle of view is wide enough that the people in your photo, if you are far away, are not bothered about being in it. They will probably think you are taking a photo of the scene behind them, especially if it is picturesque and worthy of a snapshot. If the person is positioned on a third, or at the edge of the frame, then the camera won’t be pointing directly at them. Even if they notice you they don’t feel threatened by it.

People for Scale or Context

This photo, taken in Beijing, shows a local woman amongst some of the beautiful architecture by Beihei Lake.

About the Author:
Andrew S Gibson is a professional photographer based in New Zealand. He has taken photographs in 60 countries now as a Technical Editor for EOS magazine. He produced a Mastering Lenses guide for photographers.

Balance and Visual Weight in Landscape Photography

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Landscape photography is all about capturing the essence of a place and evoking emotion in the viewer. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by understanding and using the principles of balance and visual weight. These concepts help the photographer create harmonious compositions that captivate the viewer’s attention.

1. Understanding Balance

Balance in a photograph refers to the distribution of visual elements, ensuring that no one part of the image overwhelms another. This creates a sense of equilibrium, where the viewer feels at ease when looking at the photograph.

There are two main types of balance:

  • Symmetrical Balance: This occurs when both halves of an image mirror each other. Think of reflection shots, where a mountain is reflected perfectly in a still lake.
  • Asymmetrical Balance: This is achieved when different elements on either side of an image have equal visual weight but are not identical. For instance, a large tree on one side might be balanced by a cluster of smaller trees on the other.

2. Grasping the Concept of Visual Weight

Visual weight refers to the ability of an element within an image to draw the viewer’s attention. Factors that contribute to an element’s visual weight include:

  • Size: Larger objects typically have more visual weight than smaller ones.
  • Contrast: An element that contrasts with its surroundings, either in color, tone, or texture, will stand out.
  • Placement: Elements placed towards the center tend to feel heavier than those at the edges.
  • Complexity: Detailed or complex subjects can draw more attention than simpler ones.

3. Tips for Achieving Balance with Visual Weight

  • Rule of Thirds: Place main subjects on the intersections of the dividing lines. This naturally achieves balance in many scenes.
  • Use Leading Lines: Paths, rivers, or shadows can guide the viewer’s eyes through the frame, balancing out elements of visual weight.
  • Incorporate Negative Space: The empty space can balance a prominent subject, preventing it from overwhelming the image.
  • Pay Attention to Natural Symmetry: Reflections, shadows, and formations can provide natural ways to balance a photo.

4. The Intentional Imbalance

There are moments when an intentional imbalance can be powerful. By making one element overwhelmingly dominant, photographers can evoke feelings of loneliness, awe, or vulnerability. However, it’s essential to use this technique judiciously to avoid confusing the viewer.

Conclusion

Understanding balance and visual weight is crucial for creating compelling landscape photographs. By mastering these concepts, you’ll be better equipped to guide your viewer’s eye through your image, telling a more engaging story about the scene you’ve captured. Like all rules in art, once you understand them thoroughly, don’t be afraid to break them creatively to achieve the mood or message you’re aiming for in your work.

Using Manual Focus for Landscape Photography

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In the fast-paced digital age, where cameras are equipped with advanced autofocus systems, the ancient art of manual focus might seem obsolete. However, for some landscape photographers, this traditional technique remains not only relevant but preferred. Let’s delve into the reasons why manual focus can be a valuable tool for landscape photography.

1. Precision Control:

While modern autofocus systems are impressive, they’re not always perfect. In landscape photography, the desired point of focus might be subtle — perhaps a delicate dewdrop on a leaf or a specific rock in a river. Manual focus allows photographers to select and refine their focus point with surgical precision, ensuring that the intended subject is razor-sharp.

2. Creative Freedom:

Landscape photography isn’t always about getting everything in focus. Sometimes, a little selective blur is what you need to draw attention to a specific subject or create a sense of depth. By using manual focus, photographers can make artistic decisions on what elements should be in focus and which should not, adding depth and interest to their compositions.

3. Unpredictable Subjects:

Although not unique to landscapes, scenes with elements like mist, rain, or moving foliage can confuse autofocus systems. By manually focusing, photographers can bypass these distractions and focus on what truly matters.

4. Low Light Mastery:

In the soft light of dawn or the deep shadows of dusk, even the best autofocus systems might hunt or fail to lock focus. During these magical moments of light, manual focus allows photographers to ensure they get the shot without struggling against the limitations of their gear.

5. Hyperlocal Distance:

One common practice in landscape photography is using the hyperfocal distance to ensure maximum sharpness from the foreground to the background. Calculating and setting the hyperfocal distance is more straightforward with manual focus, giving seasoned photographers an edge in capturing sprawling vistas.

6. Avoiding Autofocus “Hunting”:

In scenes with less contrast or in challenging light conditions, autofocus can “hunt” – constantly adjusting without settling on a focus point. This not only wastes battery but also might cause you to miss a fleeting moment. Manual focus eliminates this problem.

7. Connection to the Craft:

There’s a unique satisfaction derived from manually focusing a lens. It connects the photographer to the act of capturing the image on a deeper level. This deliberate, tactile process can slow photographers down, encouraging them to be more thoughtful about composition, framing, and the story they’re trying to tell.

8. Equipment Longevity:

Autofocus motors, especially in older lenses, might wear out or become less accurate over time. By mastering manual focus, a photographer can extend the life of their equipment, ensuring they can still capture stunning images even if the autofocus fails.

In Conclusion:

While there’s no denying the advancements and conveniences of modern autofocus systems, manual focus offers a combination of precision, control, and artistic freedom that can be invaluable in landscape photography. For those willing to practice and perfect the technique, manual focus is more than just a nod to tradition; it’s a tool that can elevate your photographic vision to new heights.

Why Aperture Priority Is the Best Mode for Wedding Photography

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“Real pros shoot manual.”

If I had a penny for every time I had heard this in a photography forum, I could have given up wedding photography years ago and bought my own island. The sad fact is that photography forums are not really a great place to learn about photography. More often than not, one or two “strong characters” will voice an opinion, and then their acolytes will repeat it until all opposition is crushed. Forums are more about clashes of egos than real photography advice, with one or two notable exceptions.

Often, the best real-world choice is worked out by photographers in the field, not armchair enthusiasts with an axe to grind. I have shot in manual mode for prolonged stretches, and I do still use it if that’s the best option, but for wedding photography or anything where things can unfold quickly, I find aperture priority the best choice.

My Journey Away from Manual Mode

Like most young photographers who started shooting film, I was taught to shoot in manual mode and use a separate light meter. I used black-and-white film and slide film. Slide film has a very low tolerance for exposure error, so measuring light with an incident meter was a must. If you don’t know, an incident light meter measures the light falling on a subject and disregards its tone, so the reading is always accurate. In an ideal world, this is the best choice; the trouble is, this isn’t an ideal world!

I have always loved street photography, and it’s something I’ve done for pleasure for many years, but more often than not, the lighting conditions are not ideal. In many ways, this was my training for becoming a wedding photographer. For years, I shot in manual—mainly because I used a rangefinder (a Voightlander Bessa R), and it only had a manual mode. This was fine when the light was consistent, but a total pain if it wasn’t. I would meter and set my camera up for sunlight only to miss shots in the shade or vice versa. On days with broken sunshine, the light would be a constant frustration, and I would have to constantly refer back to my meter. In the end, I spent more time checking my light meter than I did shooting pictures, and I knew something had to change.

When I switched to digital for my 35mm work, I started to play around with my technique to suit the new equipment I was using. I found that the in-camera metering was good enough. Most of the time, I could let it do its own thing, and the exposures would be dead on. I had enough experience to know when they wouldn’t be, and in those situations I would override the camera. I found that using aperture priority mode meant I spent more time looking for pictures and less time worrying about camera settings.

The Speed of Auto, The Control of Manual

When I started shooting weddings, I found that my aperture setting was one of the main weapons in helping me turn the chaos of a wedding into beautiful images. Aperture choice is one of the main determining factors towards the look of a photograph. You can use it to blur out the busy backgrounds that can ruin wedding shots. Weddings move fast—too fast for fiddling around with your camera if the light changes, so a degree of automation is a real necessity.

Reasons I Prefer Aperture Priority

Here are the reasons I prefer Aperture Priority over Manual mode in a wedding environment:

1. Most of the time it’s just not possible to use a separate meter.

If you’re positioned at the back of the church during the ceremony and the light changes, you can hardly walk up the aisle, take a quick incident reading off the bride’s face, and retire back to your station. If you are using the camera’s built-in meter, there is very little point in setting the camera manually when the camera would set itself to the same way automatically. If I feel that the camera has got it wrong, I use exposure compensation. That way, if the light levels drop, the exposure will still be correct.

2. Aperture priority gives me control over the look of an image.

Depth of field can have a decisive effect on the look of an image. An aperture of f/2.8 will look very different to f/11. Once the shutter is fast enough to freeze motion, you can’t tell the difference between 1/500 and 1/2000 of a second, so Shutter Priority mode does not offer the same aesthetic control, especially as your aperture will change in variable light and change the look of the images.

3. Modern camera meters are good enough (most of the time).

Modern camera meters will get exposure right 95 percent of the time, so not using it can almost feel like an affectation. Weddings are hard work, and it makes sense to let technology help you where appropriate.

4. I can concentrate on image making, not technicalities.

The less I have to worry about technical concerns, the more I concentrate on creativity. Ultimately, creativity is what people are hiring me for, so I make sure I’m not getting too bogged down in the technical side of things. I’ve come up with a simple way of working that I can rely on, and I stick to that.

5. Events move quickly, and I need to capture them.

I’m not a fan of making the bride and groom repeat anything. I think you can tell when something is fake, so I treat every event at a wedding as a one-shot deal. That means I have to think fast, be flexible, and react to things as they happen. I don’t have time to keep fiddling with my camera, so aperture priority gives me the perfect balance of control and automation.

6. It’s better in low light.

I can often find myself at the ragged edge of low-light capability at weddings. If things are getting tricky, I use aperture priority to decide what needs to be in focus in the frame and then adjust ISO to get a usable shutter speed. This way I’m always at the best ISO I can get away with.

Conclusion (And Some Caveats)

I’ve stopped using manual mode for fast-paced situations, but one of the reasons I can use aperture priority successfully is that I have enough experience to know when the camera is likely to be caught out. If you’re a beginner or intermediate photographer who wants to take his or her photography more seriously, I still recommend a prolonged length of time learning to use manual mode on your camera.

Too often today, workshops and online tutorials try to persuade you that photography is easy, and you don’t have to know the technical stuff. Well, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and understanding photography at its most basic is still a necessary grounding in the craft of image making. Aperture priority is a great tool, but it’s not a replacement for a good photographic brain. The real skill in photography is learning what to do in a myriad of circumstances, and choosing the best compromise to suit the situation.

Happy Shooting!

About the Author:
Toby Key is a wedding and portrait photographer based in West Sussex, UK.