On Histograms

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Mike Jones

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Mike
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As I am very new to this aspect I have been watching Histograms for colour, contrast, brightness etc within PSE9, Canon editing software and Aperture 3.

I have to be totally honest I cannot grasp how a good histogram should look. There are oft featured to clipping ends and the bulk is in the middle ... mostly.

On teh other hand I was doing some post editing on a bird shot I had taken and the bird was within the tree, pretty dark. I created a layer and masked out everything that was bright enough to bring up the birdy. Come the end after 5 minutes I was very pleased with how it looked. Contrast was good as was the colour range, and also shadows and highlights worked. Brightness seemed spot-on as well. All to my eye through my Mac monitor.

I studied the Histogram, from left to right, upside down, through a squint and so on but honest, I just don't know what I am looking for. Is there as a rule of thumb a desirable shaped Histo that one should be aiming for?

Or, once again, am I missing the wood for the trees?

If you could help me I would be very grateful.:bang:

Mike
 
The key thing with a histogram is that it's just a graph of intensity vs number of pixels at that intensity. You want to avoid clipping at black or white or the graph finishing too early (i.e. you have "space" at one end of the graph) at the top or bottom end as this means you are either losing some detail (clipping) or losing dynamic range (sections of no graph).

There is no correct shape as it depends what you are photographing as to what range of intensities you get.
 
As Andy says there's no such thing as a perfect histogram. A Snow scene will be bunched up at one end and a night scene at the other. The key is to get everything inside the histogram. It'd be easier to see it if all scenes contained exactly the dynamic range of your sensor but they don't! So sometimes a 'correct' histogram will be just a bunch in the middle of the graph and as I said previously it could be at either end too.
This is the best guide I've seen.
 
Been looking myself for a comprehensive understanding of the Historgram. Thanks for the link Phil! and the post Mike.

I'll be turning off the blinkies in camera and switching on histograms from now.
 
Mike Jones said:
Great stuff, thank you. Yes Phil a smashing link, thanks you, I expect quite a few will take a peep.

Seemples.
Click to expand...

I agree, a fab link, with lots of other fab links coming off it. Will keep me busy for a while. Ashamed that i have ignored my histogram for so long now. Surprisingly simple to understand the basics but we will see if i manage to make use of it in practice ;)
 
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