6 uses for high ISO settings you may not know about

Most photographers appreciate the relationship between image quality and low ISO settings, and will endeavor to stick to the lowest sensitivities possible at all times. In his latest post, Matt Golowczynski explains some of the times when it can be to your advantage to use a high ISO setting.

What is ISO: camera sensitivity settings (and the best ways to use them)

Click on the infographic to see the larger version.

The most obvious advantages of raising your sensitivity are to help you to take sharp images in dark conditions, keep moving subjects sharp and to prevent blur from hand-holding the camera, but did you know there are a range of additional advantages?

Whether it’s for practical or creative purposes, there are a number of reasons why you may want to increase you sensitivity, even when using a tripod or when lighting conditions are in your favour. Read on and find out how to use high ISO settings to your benefit!

SEE MORE: 6 things you didn’t know about ISO, but probably should

Benefits of high ISO1. Faster burst shooting

If you ever shoot any kind of action photography, you may have already called upon your camera’s continuous shooting, or burst, option. The maximum rate at which you can shoot images at a constant speed is set by your manufacturer but the actual rate you’ll achieve is also an influenced by the setting you have activated, the memory card you’re using – and also your shutter speed.

Why shutter speed? Imagine your camera has a 10fps burst mode. This means that every frame must be captured at a shutter speed no slower than 1/10sec for your camera to be able to fit ten frames in that second, so your frame rate will naturally fall if you drop below this.

If you’re shooting a moving subject you’ll likely want to use a faster shutter speed that 1/10sec anyway to capture it sharply, but it may not be possible (or appropriate) to make your aperture wider. In this situation, raising your sensitivity will help you to achieve a more appropriate shutter speed for the subject.

SEE MORE: What is ISO – your camera’s sensitivity settings (and how to use them)

Benefits of high ISO: 2. Introduce grain into images

People often avoid higher ISO settings to reduce the amount of noise in their images, as this stands to obscure the subject and make details less apparent. For most images this is perfectly sensible, but there may be times when you want to deliberately introduce some noise.

Why would you do this? Quite simply, to give the image a little texture. This kind of look stems from the kinds of images that would traditionally require a fast film emulsion, such as reportage and documentary work, and is one answer for those who claim digital images appear too clean and characterless when compared to those captured on film.

It’s particularly effective when shooting in black and white as the coloured speckling that’s normally visible is reduced to a monochromatic grain.

If you do attempt this, make sure to turn off your camera’s noise-reduction settings as this will smooth the image in an attempt to remove any noise that forms; particularly strong noise-reduction settings can make your image resemble a watercolour painting!

SEE MORE: ISO settings in low light – when and how to increase your camera’s sensitivity

Benefits of high ISO: 3. Maintain a wide depth of field in macro photography

Normally when we close down a lens’s aperture to obtain a wide depth of field we’re capturing static subjects, so the corresponding lengthening of shutter speed isn’t an issue. There are times, however, when you need to maintain a fast shutter speed while keeping depth of field as wide as possible, such as in macro photography when capturing a moving subject.

Here, depth of field can be too narrow at wider apertures but smaller ones may cause blur through subject movement. In such a situation, increasing your sensitivity can help you to get the right balance so that your subject is captured sharply and with enough depth of field.

SEE MORE: Using ISO in macro photography – when to increase sensitivity

Benefits of high ISO: 4. Get creative with abstract artworks

Ever captured a noisy image and zoomed right into it as far as you can go? It’s pretty fascinating to see what colours each pixel takes on, and you can use this as a starting point for colourful artworks.

The image above, for example, is a crop from a noisy DSLR shot, which has been passed through a couple of Photoshop’s Blur filters and had its colours tweaked – and that’s all.

The uses for this are endless, from wallpaper for your tablet or phone to single elements of larger pieces of work such as leaflets or banners, or even graphics for videos.

While you can take images specifically for this, it’s also a great way to recycle noisy images you wouldn’t otherwise use.

SEE MORE: What is color temperature – free photography cheat sheet

Benefits of high ISO: 5. Shooting from a vehicle

If you photograph a subject from a car or another vehicle, any movement or vibrations will stand to reduce the sharpness of your images.

Some lenses now offer separate image stabilisation modes specifically designed for such a scenario, but if your lens doesn’t offer this you may want to bump up your sensitivity instead.

By doing this, you’ll raise your camera’s shutter speed so that the shorter exposure will provide less opportunity for blur to occur.

You can, of course, also open up your aperture to achieve the same effect, although if shooting subjects up close your image may not result with the depth of field you require.

In the case, raise your sensitivity and think about activating noise reduction to counter any noise that results from doing so.

Benefits of high ISO: 6. Astrophotography

If you’ve ever captured particularly long exposures of the night sky, you’ll probably be aware that the earth’s rotation blurs stars and other celestial bodies into trails.

This is great if it’s the effect you want to go for, but sometimes you just want to capture the sky how you see it with the naked eye.

SEE MORE: Best camera settings for astrophotography

You can buy dedicated accessories that help you keep the camera’s sensor moving in line with the earth’s rotation, although a simpler and more accessible method is to bump up your camera’s sensitivity so that the exposure is shortened to the point where blur no longer occurs.

Naturally this will introduce more noise into your images, so think about activating high-sensitivity noise reduction in the camera or processing this out yourself in post-production, and also your camera’s long-exposure noise reduction if the exposure is still lengthy at this setting.

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