Importance of exposure on higher ISO

I was taking pictures of the kids with my D90 and a 50mm f/1.8 inside my house. I have bad lighting. Not enough, and both compact florescent and incandescent bulbs, but that is another issue. I had forgotten that I had taken some pictures outside of Christmas lights, and had the camera set to an EV of -1. When I took a picture inside at ISO 800, it was a little dark. I realized that after to reset the EV, and decided to up the ISO to 1250. What surprised me was how much noise, even at ISO 800 I got got when I tried to up the exposure in post. The ISO 1250 exposure looks a lot less noisy, and I didn’t have to try to push the exposure back up in post.

Lily

Lily at ISO 800

13 of 365

Lily at ISO 1250



I increased the exposure, and pulled up the shadows a bit, but I couldn’t go as much as I wanted because the noise started to become an issue on her face. I think this goes to show just how important it is to get the correct exposure, especially when you are dealing with less light, and when you are using higher ISO settings.

I will try to get a better controlled test of taking pictures at different ISO’s, the correct exposure,¬† and the D90 in the future.