ISO Task

The type of lighting that is available on a shoot, will not only determine the overall exposure, it will influence the camera settings. The ISO dictates how sensitive the camera is to light, therefore the higher the ISO value, the more light will reach the sensor. It also means that there will be more grain/noise. I experimented with capturing a series of videos, using different ISO settings in an attempt to establish what visual differences manifest.

Initially, I wanted to capture the same video using two different ISO settings, therefore opted for a low value of ISO 100 and a relatively high value of ISO 1600.

Using ISO 100 resulted in a video that delivered detail with much more clarity, as opposed to ISO 1600. In the first video, the texture of the guitar strings, fretboard and even material that the subject is placed on has been captured. Whereas in the second video, not so much has been portrayed to that extent. Although the difference isn't so conspicuous, there are some variances, such as the overall brighter tone to the video shot with a higher ISO and the slight loss of detail on the texture of the surface that the guitar is lying upon. I specifically chose to incorporate rack focus into the shot, not only for visual purposes, but also to highlight the aspects of detail across the shot, when using different ISO settings.


Guitar - ISO 100


Guitar - ISO 1600

I found that shooting in low light situations can be challenging when trying to ensure that the correct exposure is achieved in each shot. I shot a set of candles using ISO 1600, which managed to illustrate the objects and produce relatively good exposure. Conversely, when shooting the same thing using ISO 100, I found that it was difficult to produce correct exposure and as a result I implemented the use of an external LED light source. When comparing the two shots, it is clear that the lower ISO setting produces much crisper detail, whereas the higher value creates some amount of grain and reduces the overall quality to some extent.

Candle - ISO 1600


Candle - ISO 100

I also shot outdoors to get a feel of how available lighting will affect exposure when manipulating the ISO setting. By focusing on a street lamp, I used ISO 1600, in order to capture the light source, as well as some of the detail of its surroundings. I used a tilt shot, in order to enhance the low light setting and how this affected the immediate surroundings of the subject. Again, I found that the overall quality was lost slightly and certain elements like, texture and dimension, were not delivered with such clarity.


Street Lamp - ISO 1600

On the whole, I found that when directly comparing each video, the most conspicuous difference was the amount of grain produced and how it degraded the overall quality of series of moving images. I felt that this task allowed me to explore and challenge my technical skills, particularly in regards to correcting exposure. I was able to experiment with varying sources of light and manipulate the situation in order to ensure I could capture what I intended to.