What is ISO? One of the three pillars of photography!

02/26/2022

ISO is one of the three pillars of photography (the other two being shutter speed and aperture), and it has a major effect on your images. How does camera ISO affect your images? In this article, we will introduce ISO for beginners and explain how to use it effectively for the best possible results.

What is ISO?

In very basic terms, ISO is simply a camera setting that will brighten or darken a photo. As you increase your ISO number, your photos will grow progressively brighter. For that reason, ISO can help you capture images in darker environments, or be more flexible about your aperture and shutter speed settings.

However, raising your ISO has consequences. A photo taken at too high of an ISO will show a lot of grain, also known as noise, and might not be usable. So, brightening a photo via ISO is always a trade-off. You should only raise your ISO when you are unable to brighten the photo via shutter speed or aperture instead (for example, if using a longer shutter speed would cause your subject to be blurry).

What is the Meaning of ISO?

The acronym ISO stands for “International Organization for Standardization”. However, camera ISO does not directly refer to the organization that creates various technology and product standards. Ever since two film standards called ASA and DIN were combined into ISO standards in 1974 (later revised for both film and digital photography), they were referred to as one word “ISO” from that point on. Although ISO initially defined only film sensitivity, it was later adopted by digital camera manufacturers with the purpose of maintaining similar brightness levels as film. What is ISO?

Common ISO Values

Every camera has a different range of values (sometimes called ISO speeds) that you can use. A common set is as follows:

ISO 100 (low ISO)
ISO 200
ISO 400
ISO 800
ISO 1600
ISO 3200
ISO 6400 (high ISO)

Quite simply, when you double your ISO speed, you are doubling the brightness of the photo. So, a photo at ISO 400 will be twice brighter than ISO 200, which will be twice brighter than ISO 100. What is ISO? Complete Guide for Beginners

Conclusion

It’s very important to master the ISO, one of the three pillars of photography! If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please post them in the comments section below!