Tips for Taking Pictures Indoors Part #2: High ISO

June 20, 2012

The next part of our series on indoor photography will focus on using a high film speed or ISO indoors. ISO stands for International Organization of Standardization. The most common settings are 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Many cameras available today will allow you to switch an ISO setting quickly.
Most photographers try to avoid using the two highest ISO settings because of a grainy effect that appears in photos. This is also known as film noise. However, there are some cases where you want to take a picture indoors, but you can’t use the flash and you don’t have enough light for a low ISO to work. This is where a high ISO setting can help you. Sometimes, it can work as an alternative to the flash.

Recently, I noticed that film noise is not nearly as visible in smaller print sizes. In some cases, you can’t even see it at all. There are even a few instances where film noise may actually improve the quality of a particular picture. The photograph above was taken with a 1600 ISO setting.

There are plenty of resources on photography in the Library system’s collection for you to check out. The Excelsior Springs Branch also has a recurring Photo Fun program, which will meet next on August 7th at 6:30 pm.

Robert F.
Excelsior Springs Branch