inside pictures and ISO

I took a few quick shots of my little boys in the bathtub yesterday early evening. When you’re shooting indoors without a flash then you need to raise your ISO. Your ISO used to be the speed of film (in film days) and now it’s essentially the same thing on our digital cameras. It’s the ISO equivalent, or how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to the available light. The higher the number of your ISO the more your camera will absorb the light. So when your shooting indoors in the evening you need to raise your ISO up to a higher/bigger number.

The ISO on this shot below was 1600. That way my camera can take a picture in a lower light situation and it will still look like the image is bright enough.
(ISO 1600, F 2.5, shutter 1/125, 50mm lens)

Here are some general settings or starting points for your ISO:

• outdoor in the bright sun – ISO 100
• outdoor in the shade – ISO 200 or 400
• indoor near a window – ISO 800
• indoor when it’s not real bright – ISO 1600 or higher