Photo Tip Friday - Know and Use Your ISO to Stop Action

by Mary Denman

These birds make look like they're kissing, but they're not!

Today's photography tip is learning how to use ISO function on your camera to catch clearer action shots. By using a "higher" ISO, you can take faster shots which leads to clearer images when your subject is in motion. 

So what does that look like? And how do you control ISO? 




Let's get started and I'll show you how on some shots of birds I took recently.

Here's a look at the dial on my Canon t3i. You can either turn to setting to P (Program) or M (Manual) to control ISO. If you have a DSLR that's not a Canon, look your dial to see if it has similar settings. HINT: If needed, you can always go to your manufacturer's web site and get a copy of your manual and check there.


I tend to use P if I'm doing a dynamic shoot because I control the ISO and the P mode changes the timing as needed. Manual gives you more control, but to start with, just learn to change your ISO and see what it does. 

To recap ISO: ISO usually runs from about 100 to 3200 on most cameras. (Mine can be 6400) The higher ISO's are used in low lighting situations. The lower ISO's are used more typically in bright light situations. 

ISO 3200 = good for candle light  
ISO 100   = good for bright sunlight

Cute bird with the feeder to himself

So, why did I take this picture at 800 ISO? Because of the movement of the birds and the swinging bird feeder. 

This picture at the beginning of the shoot. I love the way the bird turned his head. But I wasn't as happy about the background. It was fine for just one bird, but I knew more were coming. So I ran outside and repositioned the feeders. Then the fun began!

Very quickly, I knew I needed a higher ISO. Here's why. Small birds can easily flap their wings at 20 flaps/ second. (Okay, I looked that up for this post.) Just try taking a picture of a bird with an ISO of 100 and you'll end up with blurry wings. I tried that may years ago.

But, you may say, wouldn't an ISO of 6400 be washed out with all the daylight? It could be. Notice it wasn't though. This is because I wasn't shooting right into the sun, AND the shutter speed was very fast...on this shot, it was 1/800 of a second. 

At ISO 6400, the shutter must open and close quickly or the picture would be washed out. This means that you can catch fast motion well. Not perfectly, but well. Even so, the tips of the wings are the hardest to get in focus since they move the fastest of the wing. (That's a free science lesson for today.)

Play around with your camera and try to find and use your Program setting to control ISO and see what it does. 


Cell Phone Tips: Unfortunately, a lot of us have cell phones with no way to change the ISO. There are apps available that will give you control. Unfortunately, I couldn't download/buy them all to try them. 

Here's a link to a site which offers reviews of different apps for iPhone and Android uses.   http://appcrawlr.com/android-apps/best-apps-iso-control
I can't recommend anything from personal experience at this time. But I probably will try something in the future and if I do, I will let you know!



Bloggers: While the first picture looks like kissing birds, they're definitely not! They were just fighting. When I look at these pictures, I could write a post about how to learn to get along. 
The picture of the crow cracks me up. He ran off all the little birds and took over. He could be considered a bully. But this shot makes me think of a little kid, peeking around a corner.

Next week, I'm going to give tips on basic editing. But don't worry, it doesn't matter anyway because it's a free site online! 

Hope these tips help!

Keep on clicking!

Mary





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