Please wait...Photography Histograms
Written by Gregory Cazillo Thursday, May 19, 2011 09:10
Histograms are the only way when shooting to get an accurate representation of your exposure. Without it, you could look at your screen and think your photo is exposed properly but then look at them on your computer later and realize everything was underexposed or overexposed. Here are the basics from the first video segment.
- Histogram is a graph representing the saturation and luminance in an image
- Histograms assist in exposure evaluation
- They are not the end all be all, rather allow you to make more informed decisions about your photograph
- In-camera histograms are generated from JPEG previews
- If you shoot RAW the histogram in your RAW converter (Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Camera RAW) could differ
- I do not use an RGB Histogram, prefer to see overall colors for general exposure, usually don't need to see individual colors
- Know how to turn it on....and use it!!!
- Shoot to the RIGHT of the histogram, don't loose data by having flat spots on the right of the histogram.
- 1/2 of all data in your digital image is in the first 1 stop or brightest area of the image
- There are exceptions to every rule in photography, its not perfect but one more tool in our arsenal
Moral of the story is use your histogram all the time, your photos will improve. Enjoy!
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Comments
Thanx again.
Thanks for your time.
I like how you explain it.
Without doubts you are a good Teacher. Congratulations .
Waiting for this topic for a long time. Very informative.
I have doubts on the spikes that I get in the middle on your histogram. What does those spikes tell me?
Great video!
I don't use the histogram at all, only check it when I'm in Post Processing.. my bad, huh? But now I'm gonna pay more attention to that, it will shurely help me get better photos :)
Higher spikes mean more saturation and luminance in that color range.
I don't quite understand your question. You should be checking your histogram as you shoot, then your post processing should take less time and result in better photographs.
Keep up the good work!
http://home.comcast.net/~deathdisco/images/histogram.jpg
Very true, but its rare when I need to see a full RGB Histogram with my type of photography. If I am shooting products I'll usually be tethered to a computer and view the histo in Lightroom.
He's tall, his chubby, and he has big experience to share with us, so, BIG G! ;D
No shooting RAW is still better. The difference is going to change for each image, so you will have to do some testing and see how your camera performs. Its usually a negligible difference for me.
thank you very much for keeping the good videos coming up. I enjoyed the 'exposure' and this video a lot. I prefer to see less videos with more info than lots of videos with no info at all. I know you know what I mean...
Regarding this video, since you highlight watching the ends of the histogram, some photographers prefer to just turn on the blinks so that they know when they are losing data at both ends. I always was comfortable with this option, but after watching your video I can see at least one caveat: the blinks tell you when you 'past the line', but if they don't blink then you actually don't know how close you are to that right end where according to your statement (which a suppose is just an statistics over thousands of different photographs) half of the data reside (in the statistical sense). I always find great information in your videos, thank you very much for posting them.
Kind of, yes. I never liked the blinking always found it annoying and less accurate. After time you will get used to the histogram and will be able to evaluate a photo instantly.
Keep up that good work!
Greetings from Berlin, Germany
Olaf (www.olaf-kleemeyer.de)
Histograms are something I've struggled with to understand and this is the one of the most helpful tutorials I've come across. Thanks again! Keep up the good work.
Thanks and nice to see you on your own
One video I'd be really interested in seeing is something about how to know what aperture to choose in different situations. I mean, I know what aperture does to change the look of a scene and how it affects exposure, but, I tend to choose the lowest f/stop I can all the time to get the maximum bokeh. I know this can't always be ideal because I see some of you good shots and they are shot at f/4 or f/8 (like the family portrait you show in this video).
Thank you in advance
Keep them coming
You have already lost the data at time of exposure, so adjusting in post is the only way to save the image.
Most of the time I shoot wide open, that image was shot at f8 because I was using fill flash from a long distance and needed to mix the available light and strobe properly. The majority of my images I prefer to have a shallow DOF to keep the viewers eye on the subject not the background.
Its a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo, too much to explain here and more than most people really need to know. This is an old article but still very good information... http://www.normankoren.com/digital_tonality.html
Thanks Greg for the wonder info
Rick
cheers from Denmark
You've really kicked it up a notch and given us something new to learn now that we've mastered the relationship between iso/aperture/sh utter speed.
Where to next? I'd love some tips on the creative side of photography... composition etc.
The blinking in the photo indicates lost data. It's either under or over exposed.
What I would like to know, where can I find more information about the assumption "50% of the information is stored in the 'right side' of the histogram/in the brigher areas" - could you give me some sources please?
That would affect my tendency so underexpose an image by 0.5, 1 or even 1.5 stops to use a lower ISO to reduce the image noise when I'm shooter some events which require a fast shutter speed (1/300 - 1/500, with f/2.8). This way I'm using ISO 1600-2000 instead of ISO 3200-4000.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks for your time. I read almost the half from that article, so many things I don't know! Thanks again
Great Video. Im really enjoying the technical side of photography that you are giving us. Thank you.
What would be cool to see along with this vid, would be a series of images with their respective histograms.
That would really help me to understand what the histogram is telling me, in relation to the image i am taking.
I think you have opened up a big can of beans on this one.. And I just want more.
Thanks Again.
I thing Greg has given us enough info to understand the basics of histogram reading; best way to see photos with histograms is to open your Lightroom library :)
Your video was just published on fstoppers.com.
Congratulations!
Question: I've been under the impression that avoiding 'burned out' spots is imperative but surely pushing the histogram to the right increases the risk of this. I'd love to see a follow up video explaining how to get the balance right.
Thanks again for an excellent video.
There is no "right" way to expose an image, it all comes down to how you want to create it. There is a correct way to use the histogram and I believe I explained that ok in this video.
Yes, just like I said in the video ;).
I'd like to but I wouldn't want to put up a forum where I don't have the time or resources to make sure that it runs well.
Your corrective settings are easy, adjust your shutter speed, aperture or ISO!
Nope, if I have problems with it I send it back to Nikon and have them do it.
If you have to brighten your exposure you have already lost the data that could have been captured. Now all you can do is recover it and allow the software to do what it can to make it look good/acceptable .
Thanks for sharing these. You have a great teaching manner which made it very easy to watch.
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