In this post, I will share my thoughts on ISO settings for outdoor and wildlife photography. Learn the best ISO and shutter speed settings for different lighting conditions, whether ISO 200 is a good option for wildlife, and the best camera settings for wildlife photography. Discover that on newer DSLRs, cranking up your ISO might not be a bad thing.

What is ISO?

ISO is an acronym for International Organisation for Standardization. It is basically an adjustment of your camera's sensitivity to light. If you lived during the days of film, the sensitivity to light was called ASA.

Amount of light dictates ISO setting

The amount of light that is available when taking pictures outside and of wildlife, kranking up your ISO can be a “life saver”. Light varies significantly depending on the weather, time of day, and other circumstances. Understanding how to change your camera's ISO settings to achieve the proper exposure can help you to get the best image possible and get the image “tack sharp”.

Don´t be afraid of high ISO

I have until recently lived by the old ways of not going above ISO 2500-3200. I had the impression that not following this “rule” would most likely ruin my images with terrible grain and noise. With the newer generations of DSLRS I have been blown away by the possibilities these cameras give and especially combined with editing software, designed to remove noise from your images.

I was in a local park the other day and talked to a fellow “camera nerd” and we briefly came across the subject of “ISO”. He said after getting his Canon R6 he wasn't afraid of using ISO 12800…. I used the Canon R6 (with EF/RF-converter) and the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS. I have never really kranked up the ISO to that level before I started fiddling with wildlife photography. It is clearly not an easy task to capture fast moving wildlife, but setting my shutter speed from 1/3200th-1/6000th of a second and kranking up the ISO gave some remarkable and usable results.

My editing process when “cranking up the ISO”

Getting the right exposure for wildlife photography can be difficult. Animals can move extremely quickly depending on the subject, and lighting conditions can change quickly, so knowing how to adjust your camera's ISO and shutter speed settings fast is important. Faster shutter speeds are often required to freeze the motion of fast-moving wildlife, but this will result in a darker exposure. To compensate, you increase the ISO setting on your camera to brighten the image. But how high do you dare to go?

Image taken at 320mm 1/5000th sec, f5.6, ISO 10000, colours achieved by using my “Moody Green”-preset.

Image taken at 400mm 1/3200th sec, f 5.6 ISO 20000

Editing software used:

This post is not sponsored in any way, it is not a affiliate link and I don’t get any payment for listing this software tools, but I wanted to add them to this post because without the use of Topas Denoise AI the results you see on the last image has not been possible.

Is ISO 200 a good option for wildlife photography?

ISO 200 is a default setting for many cameras and is often regarded as where you “start”. However, whether ISO 200 is a good option for wildlife photography depends on the lighting conditions and the type of wildlife you're photographing. ISO 200 may be a good choice for bright sunny days and the subject is not moving fast. In low-light situations, such as early morning or late afternoon, you may need to increase your ISO setting quite a bit to get a properly exposed image. A higher ISO setting will also help you achieve a faster shutter speed, which will freeze motion and give you a sharper image when photographing fast-moving wildlife.

Adjusting ISO Settings for Wildlife Photography: Tips and Best Practices