A lesson in ISO sensitivity

I could also title this post, "when bad things happen to good pictures."

I spent the first part of my day inside with Charlotte while Luke was at preschool.  We were coloring at the kitchen table, I opened all the blinds, and even though it was fairly overcast (and our house tends to be on the darker side), I decided to stage a photoshoot indoors, using the light of our big kitchen window.  I did get a few decent shots, but had to crank my ISO all the way to 1600.

Later in the day, the four (five, if you count my furry child) of us ventured outside.  The overcast sky was now cloudless and bright.  And around 4pm, the shadows in my backyard were crazy, but that's nothing new.  I decided to shoot anyway, completely forgetting about my earlier adjustment in ISO sensitivity.  I should have realized.  I needed some crazy shutterspeeds to balance my light meter in the sunny parts of the yard (1/1600!) but in the shade was able to stick closer to 1/250.

The pictures captured my kids perfectly, with their expressions and personalities.  There is just way too much noise, and photoshop only goes so far.  Lesson learned?  Check ALL camera settings!!  Or, maybe just remember to reset things when I make a drastic change.

About 0.25 second before a fight over the cozy coupe started!

Flowers for mommy

This was one of the last shots of the day.  I went inside to finish dinner, and a few minutes later everyone else went to go knock on the neighbor's door to retrieve a ball that went over the fence...