Bracketing ISO – Tom Bol Pictures, LLC

I simply walked within the door from Iceland, had an unimaginable journey.  I’ve been to Iceland many occasions, however on this journey we went to {photograph} puffins along with the superb landscapes.  Thanks to our unimaginable guides we photographed 1000’s of puffins, many with sand eels of their mouth (they had been feeding chicks). I’ve by no means seen so many puffins in a single place.  By the way in which, do you know the most typical hen in Iceland is the puffin?  And the most important breeding colonies on the planet are additionally in Iceland.  Pretty superb.

The gentle went from sunny to overcast, and the motion ranged from perching birds to flying birds.  There was a lot occurring it was laborious to focus.  We had been taking pictures in auto ISO and guide mode.  But with the altering motion, a well-known challenge got here up photographing the puffins: bracketing ISO to get one of the best picture attainable.

Here is the situation.  You are taking pictures puffins in flight at 1/4000 of a second, aperture at 5.6, and your auto ISO chooses ISO 6400 since it’s low gentle and you’re utilizing a quick shutter velocity.  In this case, you want a excessive ISO for the quick shutter velocity.  But then the puffin lands proper in entrance of you, and also you proceed to shoot on the similar 1/4000 and ISO 6400.  But the hen is now static.  This is a second the place you possibly can shoot at a a lot slower shutter velocity, which in flip will carry your auto ISO manner down.  Try taking pictures a number of frames at 1/250 which might carry your ISO to 400, leading to a a lot better file.

It is true that noise discount software program is superb, and I exploit it on a regular basis.  This picture of a flying puffin was shot at ISO 6400, however noise discount software program like DxO, Topaz and Photoshop all do a superb job decreasing noise and making a usable picture.  I used excessive ISO as a result of I wanted a quick shutter velocity to freeze the hen in flight.

But what’s the finish use of your picture?  If it’s social media, your web site or a small print, then ISO 6400 with noise discount works nice.  But the truth is a picture shot at a decrease ISO appears higher than an in picture shot at a excessive ISO.  Noise discount helps cut back noise, however it doesn’t essentially restore dynamic vary, distinction and shade that top ISO impacts.  If you will get a pointy file of a static hen at ISO 400 versus ISO 6400, I’m at all times going to shoot on the decrease ISO.  If you want extra shutter velocity to get a pointy picture, then use a sooner velocity together with larger ISO to get the shot.

Maybe sooner or later picture sensors get higher at excessive ISO seize, noise discount software program continues to enhance utilizing AI, and it actually received’t matter should you shoot at ISO 6400 or ISO 400. But for now I at all times bracket my ISO and use the bottom ISO I can for one of the best picture attainable.  If I’m in a fast altering state of affairs, I keep in contact with my digicam settings and regulate my ISO decrease if I can.  Try this take a look at at house.  Go out and shoot a low gentle scene at ISO 400 and ISO 6400.  First examine the photographs and see the distinction in high quality, it must be important.  Next, use your favourite noise discount software program on the ISO 6400 and examine the photographs once more, ensuring to zoom into one hundred pc and test the main points. No matter what noise discount software program I exploit, the decrease ISO picture at all times appears higher.

The take away…use excessive ISO while you want it for a pointy picture, and use noise discount software program to supply cleaner photographs.  But if the scene adjustments rapidly and you need to use a decrease ISO, then use the decrease ISO for a greater high quality file.