Chapter 4

Selecting an ISO

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Decoding ISO sensitivity

Bullet Configuring and setting ISO

Bullet Enabling Noise Reduction

Bullet Determining an ISO strategy

Bullet Viewing an ISO gallery

ISO sensitivity is a subject that can get lost in the mix. Controlling your camera’s ISO speed doesn't offer you the same creative possibilities that you get by setting the aperture. Nor does ISO play the same role as shutter speed in capturing crisp photos. However, ISO is an important but unsung exposure control to use and keep track of.

This chapter is devoted to ISO: explaining what it is, what effect it has on exposure, and how you can set and manage it. You see some examples of photos with lower and higher ISOs, and I share some tips on keeping ISO speed and noise levels under control.

Understanding ISO

ISO is the term used to characterize the strength of the signal coming out of a camera’s image sensor. ISO is sometimes called ISO sensitivity or ISO speed.

Technically, the image sensor is no more or less ...

Get Digital SLR Photography All-in-One For Dummies, 4th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.