Histograms

[rocco]

OK I read my manual and it didn't really go into great detail. I don't read my levels in PS, I go by eye how I want my image and then check my ink weights etc.

So how do you read them on your camera and what do they mean? I take it they are helpful to know how to read.

Thanks.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Rocco1

[ruthless]

This might help ...

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_histogram.html

[rocco]

This might help ...

http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_histogram.html

Thanking you, explained and very helpful.

[ruthless]

No worries, I'm hoping to get around to reading it at some stage today too

[Ashanali]

Since you have done the reading and found it useful, here is a great little photoshop trick that you can use in levels.

Open an image and create a levels layer

You will now have that little levels graph in front of you with the needles that can be moved in the shadows, midtones and highlights.

If you press the alt key while moving the shadow and highlight needles, it will show you the pixels it is altering. You will now see exactly which pixels will be black and which will be white. The more black, the less detail that can be seen in the shadows, the more white, the more over exposed the image will look.

[rocco]

Will have a play. Thanks for the tip.

[kja]

This is essential reading re: histograms when learning to understand them when shooting.

I use my histograms in LR to make sure that I don't have any blinkies unless I know I want the blacks solid or the highlights blown; it's very helpful to find a compromise in shadow detail, for instance.

In Lightroom you can also use the histogram to get the colour balance right...if you have a triangle in the upper corner you can grab the edge and slide it towards the centre a bit. Kind of a cool trick sometimes that just makes life easier.