The Skinny on How | High ISO and Noise

How low can you go? With light, that is? Pretty low with today’s ability to boost ISO numbers far and wide. As my friend R says, “high ISO is the new megapixel.” But the resulting image can leave behind some noise — the pixel-y grit n’ speckles — you need to be prepared for, or compensate for. 

These images are show and tell, with a DIY forthcoming on how to handle your settings to improve what you’ll see below. These are from the other night, in the height of Isla’s sleep strike, which I’ve been lamenting on her baby blog for daze… Sorry, ahem that’s what I’m in. I meant DAYS now. 

Manual | 1/100 @ f/3.5, ISO 6400

It was 9:30 pm and the sun, believe it or not, was just making it’s final dissent into setting. But as you can see from the window, the settings for the low light inside completely blow out the exposure of outside because there was more light coming from that area. 

Manual | 1/100 @ f/3.5, ISO 6400 and exposure bracket set to +2. 

Huh-wha? Exposure bracket. I promise, the how-to is coming but in the meantime, check your manual or menu (really, trial and error will probably do) on how to get to it. It looks similar to this, depending on your DSLR make and model:

This sets the whole photo up to be taken at two stops brighter than it normally would. You can also go the other way. But back to my noisy show and tell…

Manual | 1/100 @ f/3.5, ISO 6400 and exposure bracket set to +2. 

You can see how adjusting the exposure bracket from the first two does a little to help illuminate her skin tone, but really, the room was quite dim so the camera was working hard for these shots. You can also see how much Isla likes to look at herself very closely in the mirror.

I could have done a slower shutter speed (like 1/25) with a bigger aperture (like f/2.8) but, people, this was an over-tired, wired up baby we’re talking about. It would have been a blur. (To be honest, it was a blur to me anyway but that’s all from lack o’ sleep!)

Are these the best pictures? No. Will I be blowing them up and pasting them to the wall? No. But do they capture the moment? Make me laugh? Help me remember? Will they help in her baby book pinpoint the exact moment she inspired me to go doo-lally? Yes. And that’s gotta be worth something years from now, and isn’t that why we’re doing this? 

Zzzzz.

* Exposure bracket photo via Canon USA. Sorry it’s from an article on how to take better online dating photos. Completely unrelated, I swear! I just Googled for the image… Ha!