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Histograms . . . ?

Sutton Warrior

By Sutton Warrior
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Sutton Warrior Member

Sutton Warrior

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Is understanding the 'Histogram' the answer to properly exposed pictures?

 

Had an enforced day at home today, so looked into 'understand histograms', certainly, I now have a grasp of what the histogram is conveying, is it so transparent a guide to the exposure of the picture you have just taken???

 

SW

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RobStubbs Member

RobStubbs

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Posted (edited)
Is understanding the 'Histogram' the answer to properly exposed pictures?

 

Had an enforced day at home today, so looked into 'understand histograms', certainly, I now have a grasp of what the histogram is conveying, is it so transparent a guide to the exposure of the picture you have just taken???

 

SW

 

I must admit I've never had a clue as to what it's telling me :unsure:

 

Rob.

Edited by RobStubbs
My photo collection
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Steve Randles Member

Steve Randles

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Is understanding the 'Histogram' the answer to properly exposed pictures?

 

Not really, I'll write something later...see if anyone else has anything to say on the subject.

 

Steve...:)

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. - Ansel Adams

 

Focal Planet

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corydoras Member

corydoras

Posted
Posted
Is understanding the 'Histogram' the answer to properly exposed pictures?

 

Had an enforced day at home today, so looked into 'understand histograms', certainly, I now have a grasp of what the histogram is conveying, is it so transparent a guide to the exposure of the picture you have just taken???

 

SW

Not exposure, colour tone and contrast.

http://www.photocolorcorrection.com/histogram.html

The problem isn't what people don't know, it's what they know that just ain't so.
Vaut mieux ne rien dire et passer pour un con que de parler et prouver que t'en est un!
Mi, ch’fais toudis à m’mote

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Sutton Warrior Member

Sutton Warrior

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Not really, I'll write something later...see if anyone else has anything to say on the subject.

 

Steve...:)

 

I typed into the Google 'Understanding Histograms'. A lot of stuff came up, basically it says, viewing the the camera histogram will give a good indication of exposure and colour. OK, I now understand in simple terms what a 'Histogram' is about . . . very simple terms!!! Which is 100% more than I did a few hours previously :huh:

 

So I thought, not got any pics on 'SD card' at the mo' so how about pulling a few originals out of folders and looking at them via 'levels' in Elements? Lets be fair, I suppose you need to be a bit savvy with 'levels', although I tend to really on what I see the picture is doing on screen live. It certainly helped to understand what was being said in the tutorials I looked at on the web. However, I'm still at a bit of a loss to see how one can be so sure what the histogram is conveying? it has been indicated that its 'gospel' on the exposure and colour, but is it what one wanted??? Still recon bracketing is a good answer, my old film days are dying hard B) or setting the exposure a tad on the negative side, thats the way in the digital world so they say?

 

Another dodge I use is when I first put the (JPG!!) picture on screen in Elements, I press the 'Auto fix tab', if it makes major changes to the picture, then I look harder, did I want the picture this way. Sunsets/sunrises are often mullered by 'auto fix', but normal subjects are treated in a more 'matter of fact' way, giving me a few clues where to go if I want, one never leave the auto fix on the picture.

 

Its all given me an insight into histograms in the camera, but I'm still not convinced I have the understanding to trust them. Be interesting to see what you have to say Steve, suspect there is going to be a RAW reference there some where, and I'v been talking out of my . . . hat! ho-humm I often do that it seems :lol:

 

SW

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corydoras Member

corydoras

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Sutton Warrior

Try a read of this my friend.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/levels.htm

 

I found this too. Not sure if it is any good as I haven't watched it.

Youtube Video ->
Edited by corydoras

The problem isn't what people don't know, it's what they know that just ain't so.
Vaut mieux ne rien dire et passer pour un con que de parler et prouver que t'en est un!
Mi, ch’fais toudis à m’mote

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corydoras Member

corydoras

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No problem, it took me a while to get my head around Levels. Searching for 'photoshop histogram levels' (without the quotes ;)) in Google should find you plenty of reading. I just picked the 2 from the top 10.

The problem isn't what people don't know, it's what they know that just ain't so.
Vaut mieux ne rien dire et passer pour un con que de parler et prouver que t'en est un!
Mi, ch’fais toudis à m’mote

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corydoras Member

corydoras

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This site is well worth a visit, Bert Monroy is one of the 'gods' of photoshop. Berts not a photographer, he is a digital artist but many of the techniques he uses apply to advanced photo retouching too.

 

http://revision3.com/pixelperfect/page/all/#episodes

The problem isn't what people don't know, it's what they know that just ain't so.
Vaut mieux ne rien dire et passer pour un con que de parler et prouver que t'en est un!
Mi, ch’fais toudis à m’mote

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