Where to Set Your ISO

The longer the exposure, the more chance you have for noise, so you want to start with the cleanest ISO possible. You’re shooting on a tripod, and your camera won’t be moving at all. So, unless you’re shooting the Milky Way at night (see Chapter 7), set your camera to your cleanest, lowest native ISO for the sharpest, most colorful and contrasty images (raising your ISO affects everything from color to contrast to noise). For most cameras, your cleanest native ISO is around 100 ISO, although for some, it will be 50 ISO and others 200 ISO. To find out what yours is, just Google your camera’s make and model and “Native ISO,” and you’ll know in about 2 seconds. If you’re still not sure, go with 100 ISO.