using the histogram
- Thread starter mrtoad
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Realise that the histogram shouldn't be followed blindly as a guide to exposure. Review the image itself and determine whether it matches what you envisioned it to be, if not, adjust accordingly.
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- Mark
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Except that if you rely on what you see on the LCD you have to take into account the brightness settings, the ambient light and the quality of the screen itself and God help you if it's bright sunshine.
The LCD is great for checking composition and contrast, but if you want a vaguely accurate idea of what's happening the histogram at least provides a relatively accurate lighting map for the image.
There's a whole raft of posts on here about Expose to the Right (ETTR) and other theories Geoffrey, but probably the best way forward is to learn what your camera is producing by comparing the onboard LCD display to the downloaded image on your PC combined with constant practice and review.
In camera exposure and post processing adjustment is a very personal matter in terms of taste and somebody else's shooting style may well not fit with your vision.
For example (in sports) a shot with a large area of sky but dark horse in the foreground may have a histogram that is way over to the right, as you are exposing for the subject and choosing to blow the background, whereas a cricketer shot against a backdrop of some woods will be the opposite.
Each shot will be different and you need to understand what the graph is telling you.
The LCD is great for checking composition and contrast, but if you want a vaguely accurate idea of what's happening the histogram at least provides a relatively accurate lighting map for the image.
There's a whole raft of posts on here about Expose to the Right (ETTR) and other theories Geoffrey, but probably the best way forward is to learn what your camera is producing by comparing the onboard LCD display to the downloaded image on your PC combined with constant practice and review.
In camera exposure and post processing adjustment is a very personal matter in terms of taste and somebody else's shooting style may well not fit with your vision.
For example (in sports) a shot with a large area of sky but dark horse in the foreground may have a histogram that is way over to the right, as you are exposing for the subject and choosing to blow the background, whereas a cricketer shot against a backdrop of some woods will be the opposite.
Each shot will be different and you need to understand what the graph is telling you.
As long as you don't have a blowout to the right or the left (i.e. full blacks and full whites) then you won't have lost too much detail to edit it later.
I made the mistake of trusting my screen last time I was out, and ended up overexposing loads of pictures. Must look at the histy more when composing...
I made the mistake of trusting my screen last time I was out, and ended up overexposing loads of pictures. Must look at the histy more when composing...
Mr toad, this kind of makes sense that the histogram would be off balance if you spot meter, lock and recompose.
If you spot meter on something bright the camera will put that right in the middle and most of the rest of the scene will be on the left of the histogram
If you spot meter on something dark the camera will put that right in the middle and most of the rest of the scene will be on the right of the histogram
If you were to use a metering mode that takes as much of the whole scene into account then the camera will try and centre the histogram.
Whether you want the whole scene averaged out or a specific part of the scene to be the middle exposure is your creative choice
If you spot meter on something bright the camera will put that right in the middle and most of the rest of the scene will be on the left of the histogram
If you spot meter on something dark the camera will put that right in the middle and most of the rest of the scene will be on the right of the histogram
If you were to use a metering mode that takes as much of the whole scene into account then the camera will try and centre the histogram.
Whether you want the whole scene averaged out or a specific part of the scene to be the middle exposure is your creative choice
OP
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great replies and puts me more confident...i feel more encouraged now just to stick with my spot and lock procedure and adjust that at the pp stage
incidentally i do find most of my shots are RH on the histogram and a few centralised
however with some pp to adjust for some shadow areas they do seem to drift towards the mid third
as for LH images...they are blown out
glad to have this expertise here...
i am still experimenting after all these years with what programme to use and am just beginning to see the great benefit at times with manual
usually i go for P and A, very occassionally S...and recently found that M sort of takes care of A/S with just the additional contra settings
i mention this because my camera shows +/- exposure stop values with the settings i choose
i used to do this without thinking on my 35mm warhorses..NIKON's..and thought i knew it all in the digital era
thanks again all
cheers
geof
incidentally i do find most of my shots are RH on the histogram and a few centralised
however with some pp to adjust for some shadow areas they do seem to drift towards the mid third
as for LH images...they are blown out
glad to have this expertise here...
i am still experimenting after all these years with what programme to use and am just beginning to see the great benefit at times with manual
usually i go for P and A, very occassionally S...and recently found that M sort of takes care of A/S with just the additional contra settings
i mention this because my camera shows +/- exposure stop values with the settings i choose
i used to do this without thinking on my 35mm warhorses..NIKON's..and thought i knew it all in the digital era
thanks again all
cheers
geof
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There is no such thing as a perfect histogram, either in terms of shape or position. That depends on the subject. What you do with exposure is shift it left or right - preferably right, as that's where far more image data is recorded. On the left is where muddy shadows live, dull colours and lots of noise 
The root of your problems is probably using spot/manual, without understanding what you should be reading from. Why are you doing that? It can be very accurate if you know what you're doing, but with respect, if you don't know it will just get you in a pickle.
I hardly ever use anything except evaluative, which always gets you close straight away, if not perfect. Then chimp it from there - LCD, histogram and blinkies used together in combination, with exposure compensation, on Av. I use manual when it's important to lock the exposure shot to shot, once I've decided what it should be.
The root of your problems is probably using spot/manual, without understanding what you should be reading from. Why are you doing that? It can be very accurate if you know what you're doing, but with respect, if you don't know it will just get you in a pickle.
I hardly ever use anything except evaluative, which always gets you close straight away, if not perfect. Then chimp it from there - LCD, histogram and blinkies used together in combination, with exposure compensation, on Av. I use manual when it's important to lock the exposure shot to shot, once I've decided what it should be.
OP
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There is no such thing as a perfect histogram, either in terms of shape or position. That depends on the subject. What you do with exposure is shift it left or right - preferably right, as that's where far more image data is recorded. On the left is where muddy shadows live, dull colours and lots of noise
The root of your problems is probably using spot/manual, without understanding what you should be reading from. Why are you doing that? It can be very accurate if you know what you're doing, but with respect, if you don't know it will just get you in a pickle.
I hardly ever use anything except evaluative, which always gets you close straight away, if not perfect. Then chimp it from there - LCD, histogram and blinkies used together in combination, with exposure compensation, on Av. I use manual when it's important to lock the exposure shot to shot, once I've decided what it should be.
yes me too
as for spot metering...i do like to choose my start chimp exposure
but in all fairness i can change it to try out the evaluative
thanks hoppy