Beginner The histogram

Applemuncher

Applemuncher

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Justine
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I often see references to checking the cameras histogram and I've tried to make sense of what I'm looking at, and failed.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a very simplistic guide that can explain what this all means please?
 
It might be worth mentioning deliberately exposing to the right as the guy in the vid doesn't seem to...

Some people like to expose to the right as the theory is that there's a lot of dynamic range on the right hand side of the histogram and you can take the picture with the peaks pushed over to the right hand side of histogram and capture all that dynamic range and then back the exposure off later in post processing so you bring it back to how the scene really looked, and a happy side effect is that you may reduce any noise. That's the theory but I have read that with some cameras exposing to the right doesn't give the advantages that it gives with other cameras so knowing what works for you and your camera will be the key.

With an in view histogram you can alter your exposure and watch the histogram shift over to the right hand side but don't push it so far that it disappears too far off the end that you can't get it back. Doing this you don't capture the exposure how it looks in reality and instead you capture the wrong exposure with the intent of processing it to make it right and in doing so end up with a better picture than you'd have got if you got the exposure right in camera.

Sorry if that's confusing :D
 
The histogram tells you the exposure of your image, or how bright or dark it is. You want to make sure that the very ends of the histogram aren’t “clipped” (meaning that they touch the ends), as that means you’ve killed the highlights or shadows and can’t recover them. When I take a photo, I look at the histogram and then decide if I need to make any adjustments. If the bulk of it is on the left hand side and there’s a huge gap to the right, then I’ll add a bit of exposure and take another photo. Usually it’s good to try and get as far to the right hand side of the histogram as you can without clipping important highlights, as then you’ve recorded the most data and can bring the exposure down in post afterwards, giving detail in the shadows and highlights, and reduced noise. (this is known as “exposing to the right, or ETTR”.)

It’s different if you shoot raw, as the camera only shows the histogram for the jpeg. A raw file will have a little bit more latitude, and I find that if the highlights just about clip, then it’s usually fine.

The short version of what I’m trying to say is that you use the histogram as a tool to check exposure. You want the peaks of the histogram to be spread out over the image without touching either end too much. If the histogram is biased either way, then you can make adjustments in exposure to correct it., unless you’re deliberately exposing to the right.
 
woof woof said:
It might be worth mentioning deliberately exposing to the right as the guy in the vid doesn't seem to...

Some people like to expose to the right as the theory is that there's a lot of dynamic range on the right hand side of the histogram and you can take the picture with the peaks pushed over to the right hand side of histogram and capture all that dynamic range and then back the exposure off later in post processing so you bring it back to how the scene really looked, and a happy side effect is that you may reduce any noise. That's the theory but I have read that with some cameras exposing to the right doesn't give the advantages that it gives with other cameras so knowing what works for you and your camera will be the key.

With an in view histogram you can alter your exposure and watch the histogram shift over to the right hand side but don't push it so far that it disappears too far off the end that you can't get it back. Doing this you don't capture the exposure how it looks in reality and instead you capture the wrong exposure with the intent of processing it to make it right and in doing so end up with a better picture than you'd have got if you got the exposure right in camera.

Sorry if that's confusing :D
Click to expand...

Wow - I never knew that, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I might have a go at that but I tend to try and avoid pp as I'm not very good at it. :(
 
Carl Hall said:
The histogram tells you the exposure of your image, or how bright or dark it is. You want to make sure that the very ends of the histogram aren’t “clipped” (meaning that they touch the ends), as that means you’ve killed the highlights or shadows and can’t recover them. When I take a photo, I look at the histogram and then decide if I need to make any adjustments. If the bulk of it is on the left hand side and there’s a huge gap to the right, then I’ll add a bit of exposure and take another photo. Usually it’s good to try and get as far to the right hand side of the histogram as you can without clipping important highlights, as then you’ve recorded the most data and can bring the exposure down in post afterwards, giving detail in the shadows and highlights, and reduced noise. (this is known as “exposing to the right, or ETTR”.)

It’s different if you shoot raw, as the camera only shows the histogram for the jpeg. A raw file will have a little bit more latitude, and I find that if the highlights just about clip, then it’s usually fine.

The short version of what I’m trying to say is that you use the histogram as a tool to check exposure. You want the peaks of the histogram to be spread out over the image without touching either end too much. If the histogram is biased either way, then you can make adjustments in exposure to correct it., unless you’re deliberately exposing to the right.
Click to expand...

That's very helpful thanks. I do take my photos in RAW and often find that they look brighter on screen than they do on my computer. This could help with that.
 
Applemuncher said:
That's very helpful thanks. I do take my photos in RAW and often find that they look brighter on screen than they do on my computer. This could help with that.
Click to expand...
By 'screen' do you mean on the back of the camera?

That's really the reason you should look at the histogram, the screen brightness can be turned up or down giving an inaccurate idea of the image.

It's also worth mentioning blinkies, having blown highlights blink is a great way of ensuring your images are correctly exposed.
 
Phil V said:
By 'screen' do you mean on the back of the camera?

That's really the reason you should look at the histogram, the screen brightness can be turned up or down giving an inaccurate idea of the image.

It's also worth mentioning blinkies, having blown highlights blink is a great way of ensuring your images are correctly exposed.
Click to expand...

Yes Phil - I've been caught out by the back of camera view a few times. I've seen people using the blinkies too but I kind of avoided these at the time because they confused me. I'm getting to grips with it all a bit better now so it's probably time to revisit this.
 
Applemuncher said:
Wow - I never knew that, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I might have a go at that but I tend to try and avoid pp as I'm not very good at it. :(
Click to expand...

I'm not very good either but I get by.

I suppose you could read the manual or watch youtube videos but frankly I can't be bothered :D For me the hardest things to get to grips with were sharpening and noise reduction sections of CS5 so a shortcut I took was to Google something like "sharpening and noise reduction settings for CS5" and that got me a good starting point :D and now I'm up and running :D

Different cameras may need different setting and then there's personal taste and the look you like but really once you dive in it isn't difficult and most of my raw shots now take 30 seconds to one minute to process. What I tend to do is import my raws into CS5 and apply my presets (mostly default settings and the sharpness and noise reduction settings I got online) and I then take a look at each individual shot and process each for best effect.

I normally expose to the right if I can using the in view histogram and then I process each shot for best effect later but that may not work for you. The good news is that experimenting and finding out what does work for you is pretty much cost free with digital.

And a PS on the subject of processing...

If you haven't got the Nik filters have a look at them as they're free to download and you might get some use out of them. There are lots of things to play with and if you arrive at a look you like you can save it and apply it to any shot. Be aware though that setting which may look great for one thing... like urban photography... may look rubbish for something else like landscape or portrait... so you may need to save a number of presets.

Here it is...

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
 
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woof woof said:
I'm not very good either but I get by.

I suppose you could read the manual or watch youtube videos but frankly I can't be bothered :D For me the hardest things to get to grips with were sharpening and noise reduction sections of CS5 so a shortcut I took was to Google something like "sharpening and noise reduction settings for CS5" and that got me a good starting point :D and now I'm up and running :D

Different cameras may need different setting and then there's personal taste and the look you like but really once you dive in it isn't difficult and most of my raw shots now take 30 seconds to one minute to process. What I tend to do is import my raws into CS5 and apply my presets (mostly default settings and the sharpness and noise reduction settings I got online) and I then take a look at each individual shot and process each for best effect.

I normally expose to the right if I can using the in view histogram and then I process each shot for best effect later but that may not work for you. The good news is that experimenting and finding out what does work for you is pretty much cost free with digital.

And a PS on the subject of processing...

If you haven't got the Nik filters have a look at them as they're free to download and you might get some use out of them. There are lots of things to play with and if you arrive at a look you like you can save it and apply it to any shot. Be aware though that setting which may look great for one thing... like urban photography... may look rubbish for something else like landscape or portrait... so you may need to save a number of presets.

Here it is...

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
Click to expand...

Excellent advice as always, I'll take a look at the filters, thank you so much. I've looked on You tube a few times, there's just so much to learn. :)
 
Applemuncher said:
Excellent advice as always, I'll take a look at the filters, thank you so much. I've looked on You tube a few times, there's just so much to learn. :)
Click to expand...
Soooo much to learn, but break it down and concentrate at a bit at a time. After a while it starts to become second nature. As a hobby it should be enjoyable, so i wouldn't get bogged down with trying to learn too much to quickly.
 
Nostromo said:
Soooo much to learn, but break it down and concentrate at a bit at a time. After a while it starts to become second nature. As a hobby it should be enjoyable, so i wouldn't get bogged down with trying to learn too much to quickly.
Click to expand...

Good advice- thanks..
 
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