If you are someone who considers digital photography a form of art rather than a mere clicking of still images, then there are a lot of things that you need to keep yourself informed about before deciding to pursue it. A few of the things you need to keep yourself informed about are the shutter speed, aperture as well as ISO settings which are the more technical aspects of photography as opposed to foreground and background as well as lighting. Because, it is these basics that help enable a photographer to click pictures which are unique and spellbinding irrespective of the camera used.
Originally, ISO settings referred to the sensitivity of the camera film to light and how much light could be accommodated without burning or blurring the picture. In order to be able to be measured easily, ISO was traditionally measured in numbers with lower ISO settings being around 100 with higher ISO settings being anywhere around 400 to 800. However, with the advent of time, the traditional cameras have been replaced with digital cameras, and despite the change in the medium used to take pictures, the ISO settings have remained the same with numbers ranging from as low as 50 to as high as 3200 used to click pictures.
In order to understand the ISO settings, it is necessary to understand the importance of using ISO. As mentioned earlier, ISO settings are mainly used to adjust the capacity of camera to capture light falling on a subject matter. In order to better explain, a lower ISO setting which ranges around 100 would be sufficient if you were to click an image where the person or the object being photographed is placed in a well lit location. This is because the increased lighting will allow the camera ample scope to capture the image with proper lighting. However, the ISO ratings need to be increased if the object is placed indoors or in a dimly lit area.
If you question as to whether this is the only way to increase the lighting of a picture, the answer would be a no because increasing the shutter speed will also help to increase the light captured. However the side effect of this method is that unless you have a tripod to support the camera, you may end up with blurry pictures.
This is not to say that increased ISO is a fool proof method of getting good pictures. This is because the higher the ISO settings are, the lower the clarity of the pictures will be as the pictures will be grainy and will not look as impressive when zoomed in.
Most of the times, the auto ISO mode will help you with your ISO settings. However, if you have to manually adjust ISO settings, then you should know that ISO settings anywhere between 50 and 100 helps in outdoor shoots, 100 to 200 allows to click pictures on an overcast day, 400 to 800 is the perfect setting for evenings or dimlit locations and 1600 and above is to be strictly used for indoor or night shoots or when you are trying to click the picture of a fast moving object.
However, trying and testing your camera’s ISO setting is the best way to learn how to best use it to your advantage.