The click.

ISO.

ISO is the third piece of the ‘exposure triangle’ ISO (International Standards Organization) controls how fast and how neatly the sensor picks up data. .

The lower the ISO setting, the less noise you’ll have and the better the quality (usually). For lower light situations or fast action scenarios you will want to boost your ISO.
I generally start with my ISO at 100 in most situations, if I know I’ll need a faster shutter speed for fast action, I’ll up it to 800 or even 1600 depending on the situation.

The Canon Rebel gives you the choice of ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600. To change the setting in Manual mode, push the ISO button on the back of the camera, scroll to the desired speed and press set...easy!

The ISO is the speed of the film in a film camera. An advantage of digital SLR is the ability to change ISO from speed to speed for each shot. If using film, you would have to shoot the entire roll before you could change the ISO for a different type of photography. (I am aware that there are/were ways to increase or decrease the ISO if you really needed/wanted to, but we’re learning digital here Ü )

This week, spend sometime studying your camera and how the settings change when you change the ISO. Flip it to Manual and watch your controls. Decide on one picture to take. I don’t care if you actually take the picture or not, just watch your settings. Focus on the same thing over and over. Write them down so you can see it. Make a chart, so you can see how the three settings work together. Make triangles if you feel like it so you can see how it works together- I did both when I was reading books and figuring it out.

I’ll share my scanned charts with you. They are messy, they have little notes to myself, they are probably one of the most embarassing things I’ve shown people on here, but hey it may help. If you can see past the mess anyway. Just play with it, you’ll get it!




Basically, when I’m out shooting, I will set my ISO, then set the Aperture depending on how much of the picture I need to be crisp (high number for more in focus, lower for more blur). After the two of those are set, I focus and adjust my shutter speed until the camera indicates a correct exposure. If I can’t get a shutter speed above 1/60 with the ISO and Aperture that I chose. If a fast shutter speed is an absolute requirement, set the shutter speed first, then adjust the aperture until a correct exposure is indicated by the camera (ex, low light where you must handhold the camera or sports situations)

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ETA- my charts aren't any different than anything you can read in a book. Except, I drew the chart, played with my settings and wrote down the results. For some of us, actually doing it makes it *click* faster than reading it in a book where I seem to sometimes read 'blah blah blah, expose your shutter and click blah blah'. Practice makes perfect no?
If i've said it once, i've said it a million times- if you're a pro or you think you are, this isn't the place to learn. I'm summarizing what i've learned in my very limited experience in shooting manual and with a 350D, i'm not making up new stuff, it's not anything groundbreaking- it's simply trying to 'get it'. If you are expecting earth shattering, you should probably not be looking here Ü This is about having fun and figuring it out!

posted by Steph @ 6:31 PM