liz-jutila wrote:
Thanks, Jan. How do you all remember all this stuff? Like, when you say big number = big picture (which is a trick I maybe can actually remember, thank you!), how do you know that you mean the fstop number, not the other numbers (ISO?)? This is like learning a foreign language!
Sorry I didn't reply to this, Liz. I don't get any kind of notifications from this site and sometimes I overlook things I shouldn't... So how do I remember all this stuff? I have a 'photographic' memory!
ISO is a term that relates to the sensitivity of film to light and it's been carried over into digital photography for consistency. With film, the only way you could change the sensitivity (also known as speed) was to change the film, which wasn't always an good option! With DSLRs it's all done with the press of a button or the twist of a dial. It's another inverse relationship. The bigger the number the less light is needed to capture an image. One way to remember this is bigger = brighter. High ISOs are great for low-light situations where you really don't want to or can't use a flash. Think museums, reptile houses, However, this comes at a price. With film, the image will be "grainy", or for those who only know digi-lingo, "noisy". It's not exactly the same thing, but it's close enough. There's a loss of detail that might not matter for certain applications of the image, but it'll be really noticeable when you zoom in on the image. It's also important to remember to put your ISO setting back to something more in the middle when you're done, otherwise your day-to-day photos will be over-exposed or unnecessarily "soft". That reminds me, I never reset my camera after I took my full moon shots. Better do that!
Good luck! Can't wait to see what you capture.
