Don't Let the WRONG ISO Ruin Your Shots | Pro Landscape Photography Tips

[@benjamingrunwald3882]

Hi Michael. Could you please make a video about how you deal with visual balance in your composition? Another video i would like to see is you criticizing/ evaluating your very old images and what you would do difrerent today.

[@MichaelShainblum]

Love those ideas. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@stephanieforrester1061]

​@@MichaelShainblum I vote for those ideas too

[@shellhawkens]

Excellent tutorial! Thank you!

[@jpmissdeNice]

Denoise AI is amazing. Last week I was in Istanbul and to capture a cityscape at dawn with a long lens from a viewpoint where it's impossible to use a tripod I increased my ISO up to 25600 on my Canon R8. I knew that the shot will be very noisy at that ridiculous ISO but I took it anyway. Back home on the computer I let Denoise make its magic and I ended up with a very clean and perfectly usable image.

[@MichaelShainblum]

oh wow thats crazy!

[@JasonLorette]

With my Z6II and now my Z6III I've become less and less afraid of ISO, I've moved my ISO in some shots to what would have shocked me in my old DSLR days and they've been just fine.

[@frankschenkewitz1902]

Thank you Michael! I think this tutorial could help making me a bit better.

[@LeeAllen337]

Half of the time now I leave ISO on auto. I utilize both manual ISO and Auto. I rarely see ISO 100 any more lol and I don't care. My average currently is probably at like ISO 800-1000. Todays software can handle high ISO noise fairly well.

[@davidhewett1484]

I’m guilty of doing this but I’m slowly getting over it. May 2023, I was in a huge hurry to catch the sunset before it got away from me. I shot it on my, then brand new, R5 with auto ISO set (12000+) and was shocked at the grain in the raw image. I just knew it was trash. In LR I was able to reduce it dramatically and it the finished image became my favorite of the year. I was a local hero for about a week after that and sold a couple. The newer cameras and LR are fantastic at removing noise. I’m not afraid of high ISO but I still manage it manually as much as I can.

[@moradosangre]

thanks you are a very nice photographer , amazing photos!

[@MichaelShainblum]

thanks so much!

[@Oakley5100]

I used to be super guilty of the "only ISO 100" or I wouldn't shoot. Now; much like what you've expressed, is that you'd rather have a noisy shot that you might be able to clean up, than have a blurry shot that's impossible to fix. Something I did to get out of that super low ISO mindset was for a month straight of outings I wouldn't shoot less than ISO 400. Made me really realize that ISO 100 isn't all its cracked up to be and on a global level ISO 400 is basically indistinguishable from 100.

[@michaelmckeag960]

I’m still using the D850 (Z8 in the F to Z transition plan when I get around to it). I ran some tests to verify the ISO invariance behavior of the D850. For nightscapes I routinely shoot at ISO 400 (3 stops under exposed), then in post increase exposure as much as 3 stops without significant noise penalty and the advantage of greater dynamic range. Your video prompted me to realize I can apply the same strategy to daytime photography when I need greater depth of field and/or freeze motion (duh). Sometimes we need the obvious pointed out before we see it. Thanks!

[@markvandenberg4606]

I used to stick to ISO 100 too, but abandoned that practice after seeing you bump yours up in your videos all the time, and me getting the Sigma 100-400 you own as well. Forget 1/8s shutter speed with that lens on a tripod. I’d get blurry images every time, though not using a cable remote shutter release helps.

[@mrpaulobrien]

Very useful information and examples, it will be beneficial for my shooting, thanks

[@krosewx34]

Thanks, Michael! Great tutorial, I reference your videos a lot when I need help with settings ❤ Going to try these tips this week when shooting waves with the 2nd major hurricane coming through

[@BeanEW]

Great photos!

[@Ricky9Toes]

Love the videos Michael. Would love to a video on how you would capture and stitch a seascape pano, with waves coming through. Cheers mate

[@nevvanclarke9225]

The other tip that I give landscape photographers and not many landscape photographers do this is when you're shooting something that maybe is moving a little bit put it in burst mode take five or six frames. You'll find that there will be moments when the wind drops for a second and you get that shot so put your camera into birth mode even when it's on the tripod and five or six shots especially if it's low shutter speed.

[@deanpratley125]

I often use higher ISO’s, for various reasons. Even Lr can ad denoise that usually is enough.

[@dalemartin6828]

Good video. I'm always telling friends to use the USO they need to get the shot

[@hyperslavk8306]

Hi Michael! Could you please make a video about how you make your video blogs?

[@MichaelShainblum]

Interesting idea! It's something I would definitely consider making!

[@GusMcCrae01]

Excellent info here Michael. Much appreciated. BTW: Around what dates do the lupine bloom in the Eastern Sierras?

[@greglafortune1894]

Thanks!

[@MichaelShainblum]

Thanks so much for the donation!

[@robertocastro4403]

Thanks for the video Michael, great subject. One of my favorite themes in my photography is skiing and every winter I shoot some alpine skiing World Cup races. Normally the slopes are on the shady side of the mountain and the action and movement of the skiers happens so fast that a blink of an eye isn't enough to capture the right image. With these conditions I have to shoot at 1/1500 sec or faster, hand held or with a monopod, with long telephoto lenses and an aperture small enough to get the skier sharp from the tip to the tail of his/her skis. In these situation I let the ISO in auto and normally (depending of the day) it goes from 600 to 1200. Then reviewing all my skiing shots, I never found anyone that was compromised because of noise.

[@MichaelShainblum]

@@robertocastro4403 thanks so much for watching Roberto! That sounds like such a fun subject to shoot! I bet the images are stunning!

[@cajdajana]

I love your videos and timelapses with fog

[@crowtheri]

Fantastic Michael! I really appreciate you talking through some real world examples. I would love to see you take on a low light wildlife shoot. Something like red deer, elk or alike, that would be amazing! Cheers 🙏✨🙌

[@MichaelShainblum]

@@crowtheri thanks so much! Its something I am thinking about getting into more. I just bought a macro lens, so that will be fun for a bit too!

[@robertleeimages]

Only using a 6d back then lol, i only use a 200d now and stack my sky images in sequator and they're taken without a tracker and my upgrade is only going to be a 6d 1 day unless i win lotto to go all out for an R mount full frame and lenses

[@kheankimhong]

So impressive ❤❤😊😊

[@MichaelShainblum]

Thank you!

[@cmichaelhaugh8517]

Before Lightroom’s great Denoise feature, I used to give up on anything higher than 400 on my Nikon 5300 APSC camera. With my Z7ii and Denoise, I’ll go to 3200 easily.

[@marcuswagar7246]

ISO in the field. In forrests, at the beach, when its raining.

[@janmueller4092]

thanks for the video… I would love to see your photography Vlogs from more exotic places (for example South East Asia, China or Japan).

[@keithsaint8829]

Your videos are great What I would like to see is how you actually plan a video. A behind the scenes look at things. Would love to know your thought process

[@benthompson9717]

I miss the old days when a lens had scales on it that showed the range of in-focus based on f stop. For example, my old FD 24/1.4L has a scale that shows what is focus. The fixed marks 16-11-8-4-0-4-8-11-16 and I could just look at the focus ring and see the in-focus range between say the two f/8 marks. I wonder why they stopped including these index marks. It would make these foreground and distant background shots easy.

[@mere_mort4l]

I use auto iso when I have creative reasons to, otherwise especially when I care about the dynamic range, I go for as low an ISO setting I could get away with

[@bikramjits]

Thanks Michael great video.If you can make a video on how to shoot panorama nightscape images and stitching it in photoshop that would be great.

[@MichaelShainblum]

Thanks, I have a video on that in my channel, look at my How to shoot the Milky Way one!

[@LandscapeFotografi]

Nice 🎉🎉🎉

[@nevvanclarke9225]

I have had to situations where I've shot 10,000 ISO and even 12,000 and still got clean images after some cleaning up in De -noise don't be scared to push your ISO..... oh my god

[@BobN54]

Nice video and some lovely examples. Also, none of the incorrect technical stuff that bedevils videos about 'ISO' (strictly, pronounced 'Eye-so', BTW, it's a name, not an initialism). You identify the real issue at the beginning, when you say that 'ISO is a bit of a polarising setting' - mainly because people are mis-taught what ISO is and hugely over-emphasise its importance because they wrongly think that raising the ISO causes noise. What in fact causes noise is the low exposure that goes with the high ISOs. The need is to concentrate on maximising exposure then use the ISO that comes with that exposure. As your video points out, what restricts the exposure you can choose is motion blur needs constraining shutter speed and DOF constraining aperture. Really, you want to be setting ISO after you've set the exposure - or even easier, let auto ISO do it for you. Setting ISO first means effectively that you've constrained the exposure before you know what the motion blur and DOF requirements are. Many novice photographers get into this trap of setting an ISO that won't let them get the shot they want. Just do it the other way round.

[@outsandabouts]

Hi Michael, Ive been photographing landscapes for about 3 years now. I have a fair amount of photos that I like but I got to a point in which I am not sure which photos are worth for my portfolio. Could you please make a video on how you select your portfolio photos? Greetings from New Zealand

[@niksiotv6204]

Great video 😃 By the way, can I stack my photos in Sequator without tracking?

[@robertleeimages]

Yes as someone who doesn't take tracked images

[@eltinjones4542]

Iso 640 can be a great default 📷👍

[@Lez325]

I use Topaz Ai solves a lot of Issues and much better than basic Topaz Denoise

[@Metragnome_Images]

ISO is your friend

[@crs1flo]

Hi! In some situations, why not use base iso or a low iso but at the same SS and bumping up exposure in PP? Ok, it will be hard to see what photos looks like on the back of the camera screen beeing under exposed, but you're not risking blowing up the highlights in some situations.

[@MichaelShainblum]

Hi there! I think you answered your own question there. Being able to accurately see what you are shooting is more crucial than adding a negligible amount of grain to the image, especially when it can be removed effortlessly. In almost every situation, I protect the highlights over the shadows anyway, so many of these shots would have been extremely underexposed at 100. If there is a situation where I need way more dynamic range (such as seascapes facing into the sun), bracketing is really the only answer there.

[@crs1flo]

@@MichaelShainblum Thank you so much. Good point!

[@justinreyes9899]

How do you get that deep blue tone in your milky way shots 😫

[@MichaelShainblum]

the blue tone in the sky, or some of the blue shades in the core of the milky way? Most of it was white balance and using HSL/Grading in lightroom. But there was some photoshop dodge and burning as well.

[@thedarkslide]

0:42 That's not exactly true - and it's kind of important to know why. The ISO setting does not control the camera's sensor sensitivity to light - it only controls by what amount to amplify the signal that the sensor captured. There is only one sensitivity setting on most sensors and the ISO setting only adjust by what amount to amplify that signal. Raising the ISO does not result in more sensitivity to light, it also does not increase the sensor's ability to pick up light, it just results in whatever sensitivity the sensor has to be amplified by signal gain.

[@untouchable360x]

F16, F18? Yikes, diffraction kicks in and softens the image.

[@MichaelShainblum]

Your comment is the perfect candidate for my future video about Aperture misconceptions. :)

[@jonpaulpepen9470]

@@MichaelShainblum if you’ve never seen his work, Jason Franke on his blog called “Points in Focus” came up with some really interesting ways to think about diffraction and used them to make a few calculators that show how it impacts your effective resolution and when you would actually see diffraction softening in a print

[@BugbugAdventures]

denoise in lightroom will sove all your high ISO issues, these videos are no longer relevant

[@MichaelShainblum]

If you didn't even bother watching the video, your opinion is irrelevant.

[@emilytoovey1892]

Thats false anyways. Denoise is ok to a point but it typically makes things look smooth and fake getting rid of any detail in the subject. So yes this video is still relevant

[@dominiclester3232]

@@MichaelShainblum100%

[@dominiclester3232]

Software is always improving and Lr Denoise was a response to Topaz AI, which is still better. DX0 PL8 is now easily better than both but no software can yet fix “all high ISO issues”, that would be witchcraft! A Nikon D6 can shoot at 3.28 million iso, do you think Lr can cope with that?

[@Adam-qs5ir]

Denoise will make a really noisy photo look like a watercolor painting. I've stopped using the auto denoise. If I need any removed I just gradually increase the luminance and color sliders. Turns out much better

[@Ed-lz4jv]

you said what you did but all about ISO not much about all other settings for a scene

[@MichaelShainblum]

The video is supposed to be all about ISO. For most shots here I did dive into the rest of my settings and why they were used in combination with that ISO setting.