What is ISO (or ASA) in Photography?

posted by valis101 8:19 PM
Saturday, July 11, 2009

ISO in Photography

To newcomers in photography, technical tricks and tips can sometimes seem caught in a tangle of acronyms whose meanings fail to shed much light on the subject at hand, in a similar fashion to the wealth of terms in search engine optimization that span from SEO to PPC and well beyond. One of the most common acronyms encountered by photographers, web designers, and other image specialists is “ISO,” which simply refers to the International Organization for Standardization. This term, however, carries a significant amount of meaning for photography professionals and is an essential component of excellent photograph creation. ISO can be found in relation to film, and describes the speed of a given negative roll. ISO speeds range from 6 to 6400, with smaller numbers generally referred to as “slow film,” and larger numbers designated as “fast film.” The actual measure described by these numbers is the film’s sensitivity, which at higher levels will allow a darker composition to render correctly.

Film speed is sometimes described with an ASA number; this acronym refers to the American Standards Association, which created the basic system upon which the modern ISO scale is based. In general, knowing which film speeds to use for a given exposure can help to produce excellent images perfect for print, web design, and a variety of other applications. The ISO speed suitable for a given image largely depends on the subject involved, and the conditions in which the picture will be taken. A set of pictures capturing a rodeo event in Austin Texas may require a fair amount of light to mitigate an overcast sky; a higher ISO number will also allow the Austin TX scenes to be shot with a smaller shutter speed, which is crucial for “freezing” subjects in motion. A smaller ISO number can allow for a lower sensitivity in pictures where motion and low lighting are not significant issues.

Traditional film formats require that a roll be changed to achieve a different ISO speed, which can be markedly inconvenient in conditions where rapid change is necessary. As a growing amount of amateurs and professionals alike make the change from traditional to digital film, however, ISO describes the “equivalent ISO” of the camera’s image sensor, which is an internal component of the device itself and can be controlled at any point by the user. In digital cameras and traditional film cameras alike, an important consideration is that just as a higher speed denotes a greater sensitivity to light, it also signifies a greater sensitivity to noise. This noise can create a blotchy or static feel to a photograph, created by signals unrelated to the subject of the photograph; in digital photography, the sensor itself can produce a fair amount of noise, sometimes ruining the picture.

Achieving a proper ISO speed in tandem with a wisely chosen shutter speed and aperture balance is the basis for a technically superior photograph. Though on first glance the term might seem deceptively convoluted, ISO is a relatively straightforward, yet essential, acronym at the very heart of photography.

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