Shutter speed, iso values and question

Is there such a thing as too high a shutter speed and too low an iso? Or is there a sweet spot if everything else remains equal? Basically, if you have really good light outdoors do you keep iso on 100? Or is there reasoning to have it a little higher? Same goes for shutter speed, is there reasoning to lower shutter speed for any reason? I'm asking because the other day I was out shooting in snow in av. I had the iso on 100 and he shutter was 1/1000, and sometimes higher. I know this is an extrem case, but it made me think of general shooting and the extremes of low iso and or high shutter speed and any net negative effects they have if any at all....

The controls exist to regulate the total amount of light that gets to the sensor. There is no penalty in a fast shutter speed or a low iso. If you were to go to the expanded iso setting iso 50 you might lose a bit of dynamic range as iso 50 is a software solution rather than a native setting.

Thanks for the response. I know well the exposure triangle. I was just wondering more about if a high shutter speed or low iso, has a negative affect like a very high iso.

A shutter speed can be too high if it is your intention to include some subject blur in the image to indicate motion, or when taken to the next step, to get the silky water effect often seen in ocean and waterfall shots, or at the extreme, to "delete" moving objects from a scene, a cool technique.
Along that progression, the need for neutral density filters becomes greater, as reducing ISO has limits. (Sigh - I remember Kodachrome 25.)

Yep. I gotcha. I am well aware of motion blur and making water look like cotton candy. I appreciate the replies.

The only down side I can think of to using fast shutter speeds is exceeding X-sync with older manual flashes. There is no HSS, and you'll get the shutter blocking your shot at 1/2 to 1 stop faster than X-sync. That would make outdoor fill with and older manual flash difficult. Admittedly, not much of a problem for most people.

Frodge wrote in post #16672583
Is there such a thing as too high a shutter speed and too low an iso? Or is there a sweet spot if everything else remains equal?

Basically, if you have really good light outdoors do you keep iso on 100? Or is there reasoning to have it a little higher? Same goes for shutter speed, is there reasoning to lower shutter speed for any reason? I'm asking because the other day I was out shooting in snow in av. I had the iso on 100 and he shutter was 1/1000, and sometimes higher. I know this is an extrem case, but it made me think of general shooting and the extremes of low iso and or high shutter speed and any net negative effects they have if any at all....

Frodge. You seem to be confusing the "exposure triangle" with "desired affect".

The exposure triangle is simply the three components used to control "exposure".

E.g. If you're outdoors in bright light with your camera in Aperture Priority mode (AV) and have it set to f2.8 and ISO 500, your camera is going to give you very high shutter speeds in simply attempting to get proper exposure! Otherwise your images will be overexposed.

It just depends on what your desired affect is, as to how you set your camera up.

1) If you want to "isolate" a subject then Aperture is your major consideration and you set it as desired. The Shutter Speed and ISO are then used to get proper "exposure" or otherwise as you desire.

2) If you want to "stop action" then Shutter Speed is your major consideration and you set it as desired. The Aperture and ISO are then used to get proper "exposure" or otherwise as desired.

There isn't a negative affect per say as you inquire, in regards to Shutter Speed or Aperture, as long as you are using them as desired. There is however negative affects in regards to ISO as noise becomes more prevalent the higher you go. So this may answer your question directly.

My major and first consideration is to always use the lowest ISO possible for any given situation. I desire the greatest IQ which I've always associated with the lowest ISO setting. Some folks do debate camera's have a sweet spot in regards to ISO but I maintain this.


**If I'm outdoors (bright) shooting wide landscapes then I use ISO 100 in getting the highest IQ. I then set Shutter Speed or Aperture as desired.

**If I'm outdoors (bright) shooting tennis players in action, then I use ISO 400-500. This will force my camera to use very high shutter speeds which I desire in that case.

I may also elect to use a higher ISO outdoors when overcast or challenging situations, such as people moving from shaded areas to bright areas. Irrespective, I'm always attempting to use the lowest ISO setting. The only time a higher ISO setting would be desired is when you want to purposefully introduce grain for an affect.

God Bless,
Ralph

Ralph III wrote in post #16673588
Frodge. You seem to be confusing the "exposure triangle" with "desired affect".

The exposure triangle is simply the three components used to control "exposure".

E.g. If you're outdoors in bright light with your camera in Aperture Priority mode (AV) and have it set to f2.8 and ISO 500, your camera is going to give you very high shutter speeds in simply attempting to get proper exposure! Otherwise your images will be overexposed.

It just depends on what your desired affect is, as to how you set your camera up.

1) If you want to "isolate" a subject then Aperture is your major consideration and you set it as desired. The Shutter Speed and ISO are then used to get proper "exposure" or otherwise as you desire.

2) If you want to "stop action" then Shutter Speed is your major consideration and you set it as desired. The Aperture and ISO are then used to get proper "exposure" or otherwise as desired.

There isn't a negative affect per say as you inquire, in regards to Shutter Speed or Aperture, as long as you are using them as desired. There is however negative affects in regards to ISO as noise becomes more prevalent the higher you go. So this may answer your question directly.

My major and first consideration is to always use the lowest ISO possible for any given situation. I desire the greatest IQ which I've always associated with the lowest ISO setting. Some folks do debate camera's have a sweet spot in regards to ISO but I maintain this.


**If I'm outdoors (bright) shooting wide landscapes then I use ISO 100 in getting the highest IQ. I then set Shutter Speed or Aperture as desired.

**If I'm outdoors (bright) shooting tennis players in action, then I use ISO 400-500. This will force my camera to use very high shutter speeds which I desire in that case.

I may also elect to use a higher ISO outdoors when overcast or challenging situations, such as people moving from shaded areas to bright areas. Irrespective, I'm always attempting to use the lowest ISO setting. The only time a higher ISO setting would be desired is when you want to purposefully introduce grain for an affect.

God Bless,
Ralph

The area in bold is more what I was trying to get at. I know how different apertures and shutter speeds affect photo outcomes. I was wondering about what you stated. Thanks for your reply.

There are two things to consider, but they don't relate to the exposure time.

• The smaller the aperture the larger the effect of diffraction, which blurs your pictures.
  
• The higher the ISO the noisier the image.

When we had film, maybe even more so than now with digital, we would choose a film speed that would enable us to use a suitable range of shutter speed and aperture to get the desired effect. This would be based on the current, or expected, lighting conditions and the subject matter. Of course with film we did not really have the high speed options that modern digital sensors offer. I stared with SLR's back in the late 70's and Ilford HP5 at ASA 400 was really fast! and gave quality that is probably comparable to a modern DSLR shooting at ISO 102400 a SEVEN stop improvement, and it's in COLOUR!

So my view is set the shutter speed that you need for the artistic effect you are looking for. Set the aperture to give you your required depth of field, then set your ISO to get the correct exposure. Of course sometimes you will have a very wide range of shutter speed to choose from, great as that gives you a wider choice of (usually) ISO as the other variable to change (as aperture choice is usually the most constrained of the exposure variables). At least the problem that the base ISO is too high for the settings that you want is generally relatively easily overcome by the simple use of ND filters.

Alan