ISO Settings to Control Light Sensitivity, Noise
We learn to adjust the camera’s ISO setting, which varies the sensitivity of the camera sensor. Camera sensor sensitivity is like that of your own eyes. If you step from sunny outdoors into a dim house, it takes a few minutes for your eyes to adjust, to become more sensitive to lower light. Cameras work somewhat similarly. In dark situations, their sensors need to increase in sensitivity to be able to “see” in dimmer light.
Unfortunately, when sensor sensitivity is increased, the quality of the image suffers. Colors are less faithful, details are less sharp, and image-sensor noise increases, adding random variations of color intensity and hue. These random variations are called “noise”, using a term from audio engineering. See: http://www.dannyschweers.com/explore-your-cameras-iso-setting/
In-Class Shooting
We will take a few minutes to explore the ISO settings on our cameras, at the lowest and highest settings, looking at the results in class. In the process, we get introduced to each other. Students are asked what experience they have, what they hope to learn, and what they like to photograph.
Composition: Lines to Corners
Lines to Corners is a simple rule of composition, basically to put elements in a photo at dynamic angles. Click here or the image to see a separate post in which I talk about Lines to Corners as a rule of composition.
Click here to see all the posts in Danny’s “Take Better Photos” blog.