How to read the photographic histogram?

[poooontang]

Very useful. Personally though I find it very easy to pick up stuff against a wall with a shovel, so I'm not sure about that analogy.

[xnemesisxgirlx]

Loved the shovel analogy. Perfectly explained.

[meganong93]

Your explanation is so easy and clear! I finally understand what a histogram is and how to read it! FINALLY! I'm so happy. =) Thank you so much for breaking it down.

[jhmaminta]

very informative...

[willieofroanoke]

No, but the closer you come using the camera to make a good shot the less adjusting you need to do post processing. Photoshop and other similar software are great, but don't let them become a crutch. Too many fall into that trap and never really learn how to use their camera.

[Marmit42424]

@willieofroanoke Furthermore the more balanced your shot is when you take it the more work you 'can' do in photoshop! It's better in every way :)

[willieofroanoke]

@Marmit42424 The whole point you miss, is if you're a decent photographer, you shouldn't need Photoshop or any other post production software as a crutch to fix your mistakes.

[willieofroanoke]

Cont 4

Generally speaking if you're going to error, error on the side of being slightly underexposed. This is fairly easy to correct post production. If your image is badly overexposed it tends to "blow out" the highlights meaning you have large areas of no detail, just bright areas, common in shots with lots of clouds or any large bright objects. This is next to impossible to correct post production since there is nothing left in the "blown out" areas to adjust back to.

[willieofroanoke]

Cont 3

If your hues appear off, most often that can be easily correctly by adjusting the camera's white balance which when properly set will remove color cast.

[willieofroanoke]

Cont 2

While it is easy enough post production using Photoshop or similar software to use the levels or curves tool to effect the overall distribution of pixels and thus change the histograph and how the photo appears while still shooting with your camera you need to adjust exposure by adjusting apeture settings and/or adjusting exposure compensation, etc.. Many cameras will show overexposed areas and flashing highlights when previewing. Finally the histograph has NOTHING to do with hue.

[willieofroanoke]

Cont 1

The middle third midtones. So you can tell at a glance how balanced the photo is. Too many peaks in the left third of the graph means the photo is underexposed. Too many in the right third, overexposed. While no two photos will generate the same histogram and there is no such thing as a "perfect" histogram" most well exposed" photos excluding very dark or bright shots should have a roughly balanced distribution of pixels with no extreme peaks or absense of peaks in the histogram.

[willieofroanoke]

The purpose of a histogram is to graphically show the makeup of the image. It is a common tool is video editing and photo enhancement software like Photoshop and is finding its way into more expensive cameras. A histogram is actually a bar chart. Each bar on the vertical axis represents the NUMBER of pixels at a set gradiation. The extreme left represents the darkest pixel, extreme right, brightest. Visualize the histogram as three areas. The left third are shadows, right third highlights.

[calvinnemail]

@willieofroanoke Great explanation! would you say that you need to get a good histogram in the camera in order to get a great image after post processing? an ok histogram cannot make a great image in photoshop?

[broncopete]

You made me look again at the value of using a histograme. Thanks. Easy to understand.

[pedropsr16]

very good, thank you very much!

[ZenoxDemin]

LOL he speak like a french Canadiyen ( like i also am)

[mexiking2365]

bravooooooo... o'kane explains it very clearly.....

[piqueret]

merci for your explanation Jean; it was very clear

[zoomiefog]

Awesome explanation! Thank you for providing this.

[Snakeman418]

Thanks alot, one of the things i've been needing to get straight.

[xkmail]

yeah that's a good explanation

[d1rtyw0rm]

Jeff O'Kane is a superhero !

[surfskimfight]

good video, but cropped so wrong

[musica21]

Je vous remercie, M. O'Kane, enfin, une explication claire!  Bravo!!

[perth45]

this made a lot of sense...i've been trying to understand the histogram thing but there is so much jargon...I'm not there fully yet...but it HAS made a bit more sense.....thank you......

[MSearthtonez]

Mr. O'Kane...thank you! Your explanation was clear, concise, and complete. I have only found anecdotal or partially complete explanations. I hope to find more superbly helpful videos from you! This will help my photography and post processing skills by leaps and bounds.

[nuclearpsyche]

Very clear explanation of the histogram!

[imvjhere]

gr8 tutorial,. really helped me with my project review to answer the question "what is a histogram ?" .,

[tubetoddbobb]

Good info about histogram. But how do you correct your camera to make a better picture if your histogram is telling you that the image is not right?

[daredevilish666]

you can change the exposure levels.

[qazahmed]

do you mean exposure compensation (EV)?

[Soliwo]

EV = exposure value. Exposure compensation is an option, but when you shoot in M you have to do this yourself by adapting the aperture or shutter time of the camera. Do you know how to meter? If not find a tutorial on that as well.

[latvian01]

thnx it helped me out

[moonofsaudi]

Thank you for this very good explanation.

[TitvsCaivs]

Excelent description.

[ewcoster]

Thanks, very helpful tip!

[elfboi523]

In many of the photos I take, the histogram hits both edges - because I tend to take photographs of scenes with a wide dynamic range. I've been thinking about using HDR or similar techniques to create a composite image aut of a series of shoots, so I can have lots of detail both in the clouds in the sky AND in the landscape/cityscape, for example...

[pcwhizmail]

This was very enlightening. Where do I buy the Color Balance Calibrator? I can't find it anywhere.

[aip67]

Thank you for this very good explanation.

[amishjim]

Good Stuff Thank You

[Selukanati]

Thank-you for your explanation of the histogram.

[cenxoyo]

Very good. You made it easy to understand. Thank you.