Histogram

[RedDevilUK]

can someone explain how to use the histogram please....

i thought it was just a case of keeping the peaks in the centre? but the other night i took some night shots of the clock tower and town hall, which were all lit up nicely

i selected manual and though i would take advantage of the lighting... so with camera on tripod choose a 10 second long exp 18mm f22 ISO 1250

on the LCD the pictures looked awesome!! i was really impressed

untill i got home and saw them on the PC

they all looked awful

using the histogram must eliminate this??? does it

 

[Big Mike]

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

 

[deadtoaster2]

thanks for the link, I was wondering the same thing!

 

[RedDevilUK]

yea, made interesting reading... especially the sub link to the "expose to the right"

i am going to shoot a couple of pics now... and post my findings

 

[RedDevilUK]

OK, shooting direct images with this in mind works.... but there are some exceptions, including Landscape shots lik i just tried.

so its either the Photoshop mege of 2 pictures?? i have never tried that, or buy a graduation filter.

 

[Digital Matt]

A histogram is great, and knowing how to interpret it is vital, but it's no substitute for knowing how to expose in different situations. Shooting at night is tough, often unpredictable, and often requires bracketing.

 

[bakuretsu]

A common misconception is that a histogram should always be tall in the middle and shorter on the sides. That is true for many daytime photographs, but the histogram will look different depending on your shooting situation. You must learn how to read it to know what it "should" look like.

This article has a lot of nice illustrations and describes in detail the way a histogram is actually calculated: http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/06/03/histograms-huh/

 

[Garbz]

A histogram shows what an image is, and can not be used to show what an image should look like. Obviously a photo taken of the city at night, or the stars will be heavily balanced to the left (dark) areas. A high key portrait may show some severe white clipping on the histogram, probably done on purpose.