Photo-A-Day #1381
No, I didn’t join Linked in or anything like that. I have enough on my social networking plate. Today’s image is of the chain link fence wall from Taylor’s back yard puppy pen. After the snow stopped I went out with my camera and took a bunch of photos. I liked this one the best.
In keeping with my New Year’s Commitments I started reading a bunch of my photography magazines. In Popular Photography I learned a few tips that will help you with your digital camera. The tips come from an editorial by John Owens. One is setting your ISO to 400 rather than the auto setting which fluctuates between 200 and 800. But if you are doing low light work you can reset it to something higher. I tried the tips from the article and for a while I will keep my ISO to 400 for my standard shots. I’ve also gone and switched to Raw mode/JPEG mode for my shots. Next plan is to follow the rest of the advice and read my whole owners manual plus the D80 field guide.
Ooh this is cool! I like how the snow is so soft and fluffy just sitting there. That is an interesting tip you read. I have always heard to keep your ISO as low as possible. I always leave mine at 200. I wonder why they said 400?
Celinas last blog post..Day 170
Great image! I’m not jealous of the snow. It’s been stupidly cold here and it’s been filling my head with thoughts of southern coasts…
Maybe one day I’ll learn how to properly use my camera!
Eddie Christys last blog post..Nifty Thrifty
I am not sure why they would suggest setting ISO to 400. The d80 preforms pretty well up to about ISO 1000.
Generally you want to use the lowest ISO possible while allowing the shutter speed to stay high. Obviously is changes depending on what you are trying to do.
You can also change the auto ISO setting so it select an ISO setting in 100-400 range and not bounce up to 800.
The only real issue with high iso values is they increase the sensitivity of the sensor and thus can lead to grainy looking pictures.
As a test you might want to set you ISO manually to high (3200) and take a picture just to see what happens. I find it easier to understand what is going on if I look at the extremes
Celina,
This is the excerpt from the article.
“title: Forget Auto ISO
Set it to ISO 400. That’s a good all-around sensitivity and, as test results from the Pop Photo Lab prove, virtually every DSLR gets great image quality at this setting. If you have to go higher in low light, or lower in bright light, you are, as Technical Editor Philip Ryan points out, “just a few clicks away in either direction.
Why not just leave it to the camera? Auto ISO is likely to set it too high in normal conditions and not go far enough in extreme cases. With Most cameras, the Auto range is ISO 200-800. Yet you can typically manually dial the ISO up to ISO 1600 or beyond for low-light work , and down to 100 where the image quality usually is the best of all.”
So that is what the article states. I’m going to try it out for a bit.
Eddie,
The snow just seems to keep coming around here. But it is nice and bright and sunny today so it will most likely melt away soon. That would be nice.
Stephen, check out the response I sent to Celina that has the article fully quoted as written. I do also try the things that you suggest.
Drew-
Your blog makes me feel like I’m lazy and should be carrying my camera around with me, or at least taking a couple of shots a day instead of keeping it in the bag waiting for a photoshoot or vacation.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Jeremy
Jeremys last blog post..Barack Obama is Not Your Messiah
Hi Jeremy,
Always have your camera with you, then you won’t miss an opportunity, that is what I try and do. A photoshoot can be any day not just a vacation or special place.
First off, love the image! Nice abstract.
I agree. I always stick to ISO 400 unless conditions demands otherwise!
Thanks Gerry,
Have you found that 400 really works well? I haven’t done much since I made the change.
Absolutely! I do mostly wildlife & nature photography where the light is normally best early morning and late evening.
With the light changing pretty quickly during those times I prefer to stay on 400 ISO. The drop in sharpness is almost non-existent!
Gerry,
Well, your photos certainly back up all that you are saying, you have some amazing shots. Thanks for stopping by this blog to leave a comment. Check back through my flickr stream and you’ll find much better representations of my work. I’m constantly learning and evolving.