Let me ask you a question: what makes a photo? Yes, it is the sensor, but what is a sensor?
Well, an image sensor is made of silver. The silver tarnishes in a very orderly process which
actually creates a photo. But the image sensor is not just a hunk of silver. It is made up of lots
and lots of little pieces of silver. These pieces of silver are called ISO. The higher the ISO,
the fewer and larger are the pieces of silver.
ISO is so amazing because it doesn't just create the photo, it is also a light setting. The higher
the ISO, the faster the shutter speed can be. ISO is measured in numbers.
Depending upon which camera you carry, the ISO will start at 100,
then go from 200 to 400, 800, 1600, etc. But, there is one problem.
The higher the ISO, the more grain and/or noise you will find in the photo. For most cameras,
the highest usable ISO is about 800; beyond that point, you will find that lots and lots of noise
will occur.
Here are a couple of photos at different ISO numbers:
 |
| ISO 200 |
 |
| ISO 12800 |
WOW! That is a big difference between ISO 200 and 12800, isn't it?
Also, notice that there is not only more noise in the 2nd photo, but the colors are also affected.
Hopefully these thoughts on ISO have been helpful to you. Thanks for reading Weekend Photo Tips -
I'll be back next Friday with more! And remember...
"Your imagination is a preview of life's coming attractions." - Albert Einstein
