You might already know all about histograms, if you don’t it’s well worth getting your head around them because, well, they are pretty awesome. Unfortunately they are often overlooked, dismissed or misunderstood but they are very helpful especially when it comes to strobist photography.
A lot of people will tell you that a good photograph must have a nice even histogram, this is a blatant lie & you must immediately set fire to who ever told you that. What you should do is think of a histogram as a light meter for after you’ve taken the shot — a light meter on a cocaine fuelled acid trip with a dab of heroine and a touch of speed.
Anatomy of a histogram — from left to right the histogram will tell you about the dark, mid & light content in your photo, and from top to bottom it will tell you how many pixels in your image are affected in that area.
When I review a photo, I am probably more interested in what the histogram tells me than what the image preview is trying to show me. I am not looking for a good or bad histogram, there is no such thing, I am looking for one that matches the style of photo I am going for. So I have put together a few examples of histogram shapes and the type of photos they might match up with.
So the next time you go out with your camera, try checking your histogram out after you’ve taken shot, hopefully it will give you a little more insight into how your photo has been exposed.
To get to your histogram on most Canon cameras you press the Info or Display button & on most Nikon cameras you press the up or down button when previewing an image to cycle through the different views.
Stay tuned for my next post “How I Shoot: A Lowkey Portrait” due out on the 26th May 2010!
Comments
Toby
Great post Rick really useful for complete noobs like me !
Look forward to the next one.
Oliver
Great tip, more like this please
kym
I know I totally get the advantage of one to one tutorials with you because I’m special, but I still find this post useful for reference.
A really informative precursor to the blog posts you have lined up next. I will definitely be looking at my histogram as a light meter on a cocaine fuelled acid trip when practising with my new flash ^_^
Photo with high contrast = histogram that resembles boobies. Boobygram.
Smashley
More photography posts, please! Always interesting to have an insight into how you ‘do’ photography.
Sam Hardacre
Great post Rick! Will definitely be referencing this a lot in future :)
Emoaralso
Great post, Rick. Honest and simple advice for beginners like me. But you didn’t say how to control his histogram.
Rick
Emoaralso — Sorry, I wasn’t really trying to teach basic camera skills with this post. I was just trying to help people read the histogram on photos they have taken, but for your benefit:
To make a photo lighter (move data toward the right of your histogram): slow down your shutter speed, select a wider aperture, increase your ISO, or turn up/on your flash.
To make a photo darker (move data toward the left of your histogram): speed up your shutter speed, select a narrower aperture, decrease your ISO, or turn down/off your flash.
Pat
Hey Rick,
Just caught this post after reading your Lowkey Portrait post. Brilliant stuff. I bought a flash kit not long ago, but have only had the opportunity to do one shoot with it so far. Really hope to get into more soon, and these posts have really inspired me. Thanks so much!
Pat
Rick
Pat — Thanks dude, glad it’s helped :)
Tera
Very informative, thank you!
SantoshGaikwad
Nice Explanation! histograms with pics is a good idea you have displayed. More such short and informative articles please!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
chuck phipps
Thanks Rick! Really appreciate your help!
halil
great explanation, easy to understand….
thanks!!
sRGB
Wow… This is a short, simple yet very effective tutorial on histograms. I have watched and read a lot about them, but the concept is a bit hard to grasp at first, but with your examples I find it a lot easier to understand.
Thanks!
Upendra
Thanks Rick….
Jack
Another great post.
Thanks much Rick.
Hisham/Egypt
Bless you Rick, you explain with a peace of mind, clear .. simple .. direct to the point explanation.
You are gifted with the skilful ability of explaining things and putting complex information into simple yet comprehensive style, congrats to you.
I liked your comment to (Emoaralso), you just put the theory into practice .. do 1, 2, 3 you get it light – do 1, 2, 3, you get it dark. We understand the core of Histograms now with link to camera settings.
Your site must be growing rapidly … Wish you all the best. Come and visit Egypt.