You've probably seen this x-y graph on your camera or some photo editing software. It shows the data of your photo's color range. It's not as intimidating as it looks. Here's how to master it. The vertical axis shows the number of pixels at each light level. (A nighttime photo ...
That’swhy photographers love histograms so much, and why learning how to use a histogram is essential. If you can read a histogram, you can quickly and accurately check the exposure of your image while out in the field or when editing at home. How to read a histogram: step by step As...
How to read a histogram is one of the first things I teach people when I do workshops if they don’t already know how to do it. The reason is because the way the histogram looks dictates how you adjust the exposure in a certain situation. By reading the histogram, you know if the ...
Well, typically, we read a histogram from left to right (darkest to lightest). If we start on the left and begin moving towards the right, we see that the histogram immediately begins to rise over the dark shadow tones, but then drops off as we get closer to the midtones in the cente...
DON'T use a single histogram to set exposure! You need a color histogram, otherwise you may overexpose colored areas and not know it. Read on to Color Histograms after you read this. Contrary to your camera manual, the histogram doesn't have to be in the middle. Black cats in coal ...
Always check the histogram before printing Eliminate exposure and setting errors with a histogram. Discover how this digital bar graph determines a photo’s exposure accuracy — and helps you to avoid the errors that can ruin a great shot. Learn how to read left and right side run-offs, deci...
When you import photos to Lightroom and see that some of the photos are too bright or overexposed, the best way to evaluate the overexposed areas of the photo is by using theHistogram in Lightroom. Jump to the Develop Moduleand open theHistogram panelfrom the top right corner if it does...
On its own, the histogram is just objective data unaware of context. For that reason, only you as the photographer can tell if a histogram is “correct.” If you want the photo to look dark, the graph should be weighted to the left. If you want it to look bright, it should be wei...
Nikons have had a dirty little secret for years. All the earlier digital SLRs, which means the D1X, D50, D100, D70s, etc., only read a histogram for the green channel! These cameras completely ignored red and blue! This is easy to see: pull up the image in Photoshop and compare to...
Read your histogram: Do not be fooled by your camera’s LCD monitor. The preview may serve as a good reference, but a bright LCD monitor on a night can make things appear brighter than they are. Learn to read your histogram. I strongly suggest reading Understanding Histograms from www.lumi...