INDOOR LIGHTING
Generally speaking, our homes are not quite as bright as the outdoors, so when the photographer moves indoors, ISO is a good way to deal with the lesser amounts of light.
ISO settings increase the speed, or sensitivity, of the chip to light. The higher the ISO, the more light sensitive the chip—or, to be more accurate, the camera uses ISO algorithms
to increase the sensitivity. This allows us to photograph in darker environments at higher shutter speeds. ISO 100 will not work, for example, if you’re trying to photograph an indoor sporting event and capture frozen action. The beauty of digital is that we can specify exactly on which frames we want to use an increased ISO.
The downside of increasing ISO is that the image becomes more “noisy,” which is similar to the image grain you got when you pushed film speed up to higher settings. The ISO setting
is dependent on the amount of light, not the quality. Photographers often use a higher ISO setting to create an ethereal look or ambience, which is a result of that speed increase.
The following situations may require a boost in the ISO:
■ Indoor sports photography When photographing inside a gym, increase the ISO to 1600 or 3200. This will often provide a high enough shutter speed to freeze the action. Try combining this with flash fill, so the environment of the arena is included—not just a flash-lit subject rising out of a sea of black. Take an exposure reading of something in the gym that is a midtone or gray, use this to
establish the manual exposure, and turn the strobe to a TTL setting. The strobe, along with the higher shutter speed, will help freeze the action.
■ Indoor events Increase the ISO setting at birthday parties or other indoor events where you would prefer to photograph without a flash.
■ Special effects There are times when the photographer may want the increased noise in a higher ISO image to impart a special look or feeling to the photo.
Too often, the photogr apher shoots moments like this with a direct flash, eliminating all
war mth in the photo. Here , I increased the ISO to 800 and exposed the photo for the candlelight on the face . 85mm lens, 1/30
second at f2