Despres Photography

Photography Basics: Film Speeds for the Beginner

Cameras have lots of little knobs, dials and meters. If you stare at your camera long enough, you'll be amazed at how many ways you can adjust your camera and change how your pictures look. But did you know that one of the most critical decisions you can make when preparing to shoot happens before you even load your film?

The speed of your film is one of the unchangeable qualities of a picture. There are lots of ways to play with aperture, focus and exposure. However, once you select your film and load it into the camera, there is no way to change how the film reacts to light. In every photograph you ever shoot with real film, you are adapting to the film speed. Film doesn't automatically change to suit your needs, so it's important to choose the right film before you start taking pictures.

ISO and You
The film speed measures how sensitive the film is to light. Low film speeds mean that the film is less sensitive and needs a longer exposure while high speeds are very sensitive and need shorter exposures. The speed of a film is commonly known as its ISO. Any film will have the ISO listed on the box. Some common speeds are 400, 800 and 1000 with 400 being the closest to "standard."

The ISO of your film affects every aspect of the way your camera works. Your light sensor (if you have one) has to be set correctly for the film youre using, your aperture will be more or less limited depending, and your shutter speed will likely have to decrease or increase to accommodate the film. Even digital cameras have a simulated (and adjustable) film speed that they base their calculations on.

Choosing the Right Speed
The ISO of the film determines what you're able to photograph and how. Because high speed film needs less time to expose (ISO 800 or higher is a good general rule), you can take images with much higher shutter speeds than with slower film. The end result here will be crystal clear action; fast film is wonderful for shooting sports or anything that moves quickly. When you see a photograph of a basketball player suspended in midair, you can bet that image was shot on high-speed film. With a slower ISO, the player in question would likely be a huge blur. Faster film also needs less light and can be super helpful in situations where a flash isn't appropriate indoors.

Lower speed film captures more detail because it has more time to absorb light. It's important to keep the words "detail" and "blurry" separate- more "detail" in a picture is similar to a high definition TV having more "detail" than a regular television- more of what was originally there will be seen in a photo. The more time the film can "see" a scene, the more accurately the scene will be represented. Lower speed films are great for portrait photography or images in which you wish to show great depth of field.

Film Speed Experiments
To get a good handle on how ISO works and what it does to your images, here are a couple of things to try out the next time youre planning a shooting day:

• Get rid of your flash (if you have one) and take some fast film into a low light environment
• Swing by a local high school, college, or little league game and try shooting (with permission) two rolls of film one very slow (ISO 100) and one very fast (ISO 1000) then have a look at how different the images turned out

Film speed is one of those great things to play with when youre pretty comfortable with your camera and youre looking for new ways to challenge your perceptions. Each speed has its strengths and weaknesses so it's up to you to decide which one works best for you. Now it's time to take some pictures that you'll be proud to put in picture frames on the wall on the wall on your wall And don't forget that pictures make great gifts especially when given in pictures frames that complement the existing decor like natural wood picture frames and classic silver picture frames.

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