ISO Say you spent the afternoon photographing your friends and family at a barbecue. As it transitions to evening and the party moves indoors, you want to continue photographing the event. However, the lighting is now too dim. At your current ISO of 100, the best shutter speed your camera can give is 1/10 sec. Without resorting to using flash, 1/10 is far too slow and will result in blurry images.

You can change ISO in one simple step. Before digital cameras, you would have had to change a whole roll of film. You will change your ISO to a higher number, such as 400, 800 or even This makes the camera more sensitive to the light coming into it, and provides a little more breathing room when it comes to selecting a fast-enough shutter speed. Remember smaller ISO numbers indicate a lower sensitivity to light. Pictures with a smaller ISO number is less sensitive to light which result in sharper, more colorful images. Higher ISO’s work better in low-light situations, but often result in photos with more visible grain.

With some digital cameras, though, changing your ISO seems to put the camera into a manual exposure mode. IF you notice that increasing your ISO always results in overexposed pictures (pictures that are too bright), you probably have this kind of camera. If so, you’ll need to manually adjust the shutter speed or aperture when changing the ISO. Some digital cameras don’t let you manually change the ISO at all. Then you will have to use a flash. Other cameras by default use an Auto ISO setting. I recommend turning this automatic function off so that you retain control over ISO.

NOISE IS OKAY Noise and grain are not necessarily bad. Photographers sometimes intentionally generate this texture for interesting, creative effects. For one thing, it can add to the mood of a photograph.

This assignment will show you firsthand just how much noise your camera will produce at high ISO numbers, and just how high you can go with your ISO before you begin to see a serious degradation in quality. Choose a stationary subject in low light and place your camera either on a tripod or table. Shoot 1 photo at ISO 100 Shoot 1 photo at ISO (highest ISO your camera can go). Compare the results. If you cannot see the noise in the high ISO version, enlarge both photos on your computer monitor and compare them side by side to see if you can see the noise.

APERTURE (F-stop) Using shutter speed to stop or blur motion is not the only way you can have fun with exposure settings.

Large aperture openings are indicated by smaller f-stop numbers – cause less of a scene to be in focus. Small aperture openings are indicated by larger f-stop numbers – cause more of a scene to be in focus. Common f-stops include f/2.8, f/4, f5.6, f/8, f/22, and f/32, with f 2.8 begin the largest and f/32 being the smallest aperture openings.

An easy way to remember is Small f-stop number = Small depth of field (only a part in focus) Larger f-stop number = larger area in focus (everything in focus)

F-stop numbers have different aperture f values depending on the type of camera you use. For example f/8 on a compact camera might be more equivalent to f/22 or f/32 on a digital SLR. If you own a compact digital camera, you must mentally adjust the aperture – so your highest f-stop may only be f/8. Your highest f-stop number will get you the greatest depth of field, and your lowest f-stop number will get you the most isolated focus.

Where to place the focus When creating images with isolated focus, where you place the focus becomes very important. You need to consciously decide what needs to be sharp and what gets to be blurry. To determine what object to focus on in the scene, think about what you’re trying to photograph and what emotional effect you’re aiming to evoke in the viewer.

In order to control the placement of the in- focus area within your composition, you need to fully understand how the focus lock feature works on your camera. Usually, the focus lock is activated when you press the shutter button down halfway, and then the focus sensor automatically focuses on whatever is centrally located in your viewfinder. So if your subject is not centrally located, temporarily position your camera so that it is, press the shutter button halfway to activate the focus lock, and then, still holding the shutter button down halfway, return to your original off-center composition. Once the focus is located on your subject, you are free to recompose, all the while keeping your subject sharp.

If you have a camera that does not offer a high f/stop number, it can be somewhat limited when it comes to the lower f-stop numbers. This means you might find it difficult or impossible to get photos that exhibit a nice degree of isolated focus (where only one part or object in the scene is in focus). You will need to experiment and find out how far you can go in either direction with your particular camera.

You will hand in 2 pictures. Take may attempts and turn in your BEST shots. Take 1 picture with everything in focus (high f/stop) Take 1 picture with 1 thing in focus and everything else out of focus (low f/stop)