Photography Basics — Shutter Speed and ISO

In the last post, I explained aperture and depth of field, but that isn’t all there is when it comes to cameras. Another vital part of taking pictures is shutter speed and ISO.

Shutter Speed

In your camera, there is a little flap in front of the sensor that opens and closes when you press the button to take a picture. This flap is called the shutter, and you can change how long it closes when you take a picture. The longer your shutter is open, the more light is let in. So, when it is dark outside you will want a slower shutter speed to let more light inside, and the opposite for when it is bright outside.

But, light is not the only thing affected by your shutter speed. The slower your shutter speed is, the more motion can change the result of your picture. For example, a sports photographer will want a faster shutter speed, since their subject is constantly moving.

With a faster shutter speed, your picture will essentially freeze your subject in their tracks. But, longer shutter speed can give your picture cool effects like smooth waterfalls and light painting. These two effects of shutter speed have to be balanced with aperture and ISO to make sure your photo turns out correctly exposed and in focus.

ISO

ISO is very simple. When you change ISO you change the exposure, or brightness, of your picture. As the ISO number increases, so does the brightness of your picture. ISO is usually an automatic setting on most camera modes but it is good to know about it as it can make or break your picture.

One negative (or positive, for some) for ISO is grain. The higher your ISO, the more likely your picture will get grainy. This means your photo will begin to lose its sharpness and look a little pixelated. The only time this happens is in low-light when you tend to need really high ISO to make your picture bright enough. This can usually be balanced out with changing aperture and shutter speed to allow more light into the camera in the first place.

One takeaway, if any, from these two posts about photography, is that your camera is a very finicky machine. In order to take good pictures with a good camera, you must understand these 4 basic ideas (aperture, depth of field, shutter speed, and ISO). With a simple comprehension of these concepts, you would be surprised by how well your pictures will turn out.

Citations

Woelfel, Brandon. “Photography.” Brandon Woelfel, www.brandonwoelfel.com/photography-1/3dxhbcqrutjr8w2u7i6pbo7rlykfnh.

“Understanding Shutter Speed for Beginners — Photography Basics.” Photography Life, Photography Life, 1 Oct. 2018, photographylife.com/what-is-shutter-speed-in-photography.

“Sports Photography at CMU.” Photography Life, Photography Life, photographylife.com/sports-photography-at-cmu.

“Shutter Speed and Aperture.” PictureCorrect, www.picturecorrect.com/tips/shutter-speed-basics/.