The last of the basic photography terms I will cover is ISO.

The third part of the Exposure Triangle, ISO measures a digital camera’s sensor sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor becomes. By turning up ISO, you can take photos in low light situations without a tripod. Sounds great, right? As most things in life, if you add something, something usually comes along and takes it away. In the case of higher ISO numbers, images will start to look grainy or noisey the higher it goes.

Over the last decade, camera manufacturers have decreased the amount of grain at high ISO settings. For instance, the Nikon D750 digital camera I use produces excellent images up to ISO 4000 with acceptable ones as high as ISO 6400. I use a Nikon D500 digital camera for my sport photography which does great up to ISO 6400 with acceptable ones as high as ISO 10000. New cameras even do better. In this photo of the Coca-Cola Store in Disney Springs taken at ISO 6400, the grain can been seen in the night sky.

There are ways to keep ISO settings low and still get great photos in low light. Using a tripod is one of them.  Be decreasing the Shutter Speed and/or adjusting the Aperture at a low ISO creates outstanding photos. This is what I did with this photo of Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom.

In my experience, if you get the exposure correct even at high ISOs, the better the photograph will be.

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