ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Digital camera ISO

Hey kiddo, have you ever noticed how sometimes when you take a picture with a camera, the picture comes out looking really bright or really dark? That's because cameras need different amounts of light to take a good picture depending on where you are and what you're taking a picture of.

ISO is a setting on your camera that helps control how much light the camera needs to take a good picture. When you use a higher ISO setting, your camera becomes more sensitive to light which means it doesn't need as much light to take a picture. This is helpful when you're in a dark place or it's nighttime, because it helps you take a picture without making it look too dark or blurry.

However, using a higher ISO setting can also make your picture look a little bit grainy or noisy. This is because the camera is trying really hard to brighten up the picture, so it ends up creating these little dots and specks in the picture that make it look less smooth.

On the other hand, when you use a lower ISO setting, your camera is less sensitive to light which means it needs more light to take a good picture. This is helpful when you're outside on a sunny day, because the sun provides lots of bright light, so your camera doesn't need to work as hard to take a good picture.

Using a lower ISO setting generally makes your picture look smoother and less grainy, but if you're in a dark place and you use too low of an ISO setting, your picture might come out looking too dark or blurry.

So, basically, ISO is a setting on your camera that helps you control how much light you need to take a good picture. Higher ISO settings help you take pictures in dark places, but they can make your pictures look grainy. Lower ISO settings help you take pictures in bright places, but if it's too low and it's dark, your pictures might come out blurry or too dark.