ISO Photography

ISO stands for International Standards Organization – an industry standard for measuring film and digital image sensor sensitivity. ISO is a photography setting that adjusts a camera's sensitivity to light. A higher ISO means the film or camera is more sensitive to light. A lower ISO means it is less sensitive to light. In digital photography, it is possible with some cameras to adjust the image sensor's ISO levels to achieve varying results. Typically photographers use a higher ISO in low light situations to capture more light, and a lower ISO in bright situations for the greatest quality.

Higher ISO sensitivity also adds more grain (aka "noise") to the images that are captured, while lower ISO creates smoother images. So be careful, a higher or lower ISO isn't necessarily better in all situations. Remember to experiment and iterate with different combinations of exposure, aperture, and ISO. As with all photography settings and techniques, remember to use bracketing!