having a little fun with ISO :: photography

I took a little me time this evening. Yep, I said it.  Not only did I say it but I actually did it.  Kissed the little munchkins and headed out for a while to do something I enjoy.  For all you mothers out there, you can relate to how difficult this is to do.  To step away from our day to day tasks of helping, nurturing, preparing, and in all ways caring for others to devote time to ourselves.  A 1 hour massage or manicure (oh that does sound lovely), a much needed hair cut, a little retail therapy, getting together with a girl friend or, in my case, some time to play around with my camera.

Something I have been wanting to mess around with more and more is bumping up my ISO when I am shooting.  You probably would recognize this most from film photography.  When making an everyday film purchase, you probably made your choice based on the ISO (200, 400, 800 and so on). This rating was directly related to the level of sensitivity the film had to light.  With digital photography, the idea is pretty much the same as with film.  You might bump up your ISO to affect your camera's sensitivity to light.  The lower light situations (indoors or at night) might call for a higher ISO so you can keep your shutter speed higher while still allowing enough light into your image.  The risk is that it will increase your noise causing photos to be grainier than with a lower ISO.  That said, I don't believe this is always bad and in fact tonight when I went out to play around that was what I was looking for.  I wanted to create some photos that had some grainy character.  It was a blast and I can't wait to get back out there and mess around some more.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from tonight. 

 

The Olympic Mountains.  So beautiful!

 

Poulsbo Waterfront Marina. I love these.  They just scream of having a story to tell.  All the many adventures that each of these boats has been on.  So invigorating.

 

and my favorite color shot . . . the blues were so beautiful.

 

 

I encourage all of you out there, especially you parents who rarely make time for yourselves, to do so this week.  Find 30-60 minutes where you can sneak away and devote some time to you, to something you would enjoy.  You might just love it so much you do it again the following week.  Who knows......