Playing with ISO
Today I played around with the ISO speed. I used a similar set up as before but with some backlight.
Here is the set up, visually.
Taken with the DMC-FX9
The D80 has an ISO range of 100 to 3200, but in this shoot I only used ISO-100, ISO-800 and ISO-1600, using three different exposure times for each. If you're a pro, or at least somewhat into this field, you probably know what the difference will be, but me, as a complete rookie, wanted to see it and understand it.
In theory, higher ISO values can cause unwanted noise. Today the cameras are so good and the noise is very limited, but let's see if we can see any difference.
Here is the result.
A. ISO-100 - 1/100s
B. ISO-100 - 1/25s
C. ISO-100 - 1/10s
D. ISO-800 - 1/100s
E. ISO-800 - 1/25s
F. ISO-800 - 1/10s
G. ISO-1600 - 1/100s
H. ISO-1600 - 1/25s
I. ISO-1600 - 1/10s
In my opinion, there are two pictures that are OK lighting wise - C and G. Working a bit more with the shutter speed and aperture, I could probably get the picture even better, but that's not the goal of this session. So what are we interested in?
First, to see that the lighting is different. And that can quite easily be spotted, you can see it from the thumbs already.
Second we want to see if there is more noise on the pictures with higher ISO values. Zoom in and take a look... Honestly, I can't see that much of a difference. I'll probably revisit this later when I've got some more experience. Maybe it makes more difference under other conditions.
What have you learned from this? I don't know, but I've learned that the ISO value does a lot to the lighting of the picture. From reading Scott's books I've learned that I should use low ISO values, so I'll stick with ISO-100 as long as it works fine. If shooting in darker locations, e.g. indoor with bad lighting, I may go up to ISO-400 or ISO-800.
Shooting a flower
Today I had an opportunity to try out the new tripod for real. The set up was quite simple, in our living room.
Taken using the HDC-HS100
The picture says most of it, except that the background is a white wall and the lighting is in vacuum cleaning mode (that is, all possible lamps are lit.)
Let's cut to the chase. Here is the result. Aperture and shutter speed are noted. If you're interested, download the full images which contain the complete info.
-
- f/4.8 – 1/3s
-
- f/4.8 – 1/2s
-
- f/8 – 1s
-
- f/32 – 14s
-
- f/5.6 – 1.8s
-
- f/8 – 1.6s
-
- f/36 – 30s
-
- f/22 – 20s
-
- f/36 – 1/60s – Flash
-
- f/20 – 1/60s – Flash
-
- f/8 – 1/60 – Flash
-
- f/5.6 – 1/60s – Flash
The photos are only edited by cropping them and resizing them. Nothing else has been touched.
So what can we learn from this? Apart from the fact that you should use a cleansing kit to clean your lens before even thinking of shooting a picture.
There is definitely a lighting problem. Most of the pictures look quite dull, there is no vitality. I have to use a wide aperture to get a decent shot, and then some sharpness is lost. Adding the flash gives a bit more interesting picture, but the background is very dark; why I have yet to learn. If I had the gear, I would add more light.
I used "aperture priority mode" and did not play with the shutter speed at all. I guess that's why all pictures are quite alike - the D80 does a lot for me.
Not too much learned on this session, but it was a start. Below are some additional shots where I experimented with a spray bottle. A little bit more vitality perhaps. I like the first one.
