Know your histogram
Discussion
A useful page for DSLR users:
www.cleanimages.com/Article-UnderstandingYourDigitalCamerasHistogram.asp
www.cleanimages.com/Article-UnderstandingYourDigitalCamerasHistogram.asp
To get in quick before he deletes it...
then
Link
One day I'll worry about histograms I'm sure, for now I'll worry about running out of film.
gravymaster said:
I seem to remember posting something similar a few months ago with an article from luminous landscape, and you replying that it was nonsense and something to do with the mark 1 eyeball being the best judge of exposure. Just wondering why the turnaround?
Matt
simpo two from a while ago said:
I find it bizarre that highly complex and advanced digital cameras with space-age metering systems can take a picture and then display a histogram proudly showing that they got it all wrong.
If they are capable of showing this mistake and its exact nature, then they should be capable of getting it right first time!
then
simpo two said:
The best judge of exposure is the Mark 1 Eyeball, for that is how the picture is really seen. Correct highlights, correct shadows - what more do you need?
To take the black cat scenario, you could spend ages re-taking it until the histogram was 'correct', then look at the image and see that it was totally wrong.
Histograms 0, eyeball 1.
Link
One day I'll worry about histograms I'm sure, for now I'll worry about running out of film.
Matt: You will be staggered to learn that I still don't use the histogram.
I posted the link because I thought other people might find it interesting and/or useful.
FNige: I hope you derived some satisfaction from trawling through old posts and copying and pasting '/Quote' etc.
'Busted', you smartarse buggers
.
>> Edited by simpo two on Sunday 30th January 23:10
I posted the link because I thought other people might find it interesting and/or useful.
FNige: I hope you derived some satisfaction from trawling through old posts and copying and pasting '/Quote' etc.
'Busted', you smartarse buggers
. >> Edited by simpo two on Sunday 30th January 23:10
simpo two said:
You will be staggered to learn that I still don't use the histogram.
Simpo. Do you think that guessing the exposure is a skill you can learn or you just naturally have it? I tend to over expose everything even when I know there's going to be that danger in the shot.
I've seen lots of your shots and you seem to guess very well! I'm sure your histograms would be fine (if you looked at them
)
simpo two said:
Matt: You will be staggered to learn that I now use the histogram all the time. In fact it has revolutionised the way i use my camera.
I posted the link because I thought I would share with other people something incredibly useful.
FNige: I hope you derived some satisfaction from trawling through old posts and copying and pasting. I do too, but you are faster. '/Quote' etc.
'Busted', are my favourite band
Thought so.
Matt
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:
You will be staggered to learn that I still don't use the histogram.
Simpo. Do you think that guessing the exposure is a skill you can learn or you just naturally have it? I tend to over expose everything even when I know there's going to be that danger in the shot.
I've seen lots of your shots and you seem to guess very well! I'm sure your histograms would be fine (if you looked at them
Morning gents
Yes, all in fun: one great thing about photography is that it spawns endlesss discussion - partly because what one person likes, another hates, and because people use their camera settings differently. Since getting the D70 I've become very aware of exposure latitude and often take a shot several times to try to get a 'good' one. The quickest way I find to 'adjust' exposure is to point the camera to a lighter or darker area in the frame, semi-depress and reframe. It's a very quick way of adjusting exposure - but of course this also locks focus so you have to bear that in mind.
If that fails - ie my trusty Highlights display is still flashing - I'll bracket or use EV.
Here's one I took at Walton on Saturday: original shot nothing to write home about, subsequent two a bit better hopefully! There's still a burnt-out bit of sky but I didn't want to lose the foreground completely.
Thanx, but this is all very basic info . . .
I started in the darkroom when I was 15 or so. Ilford Multigrade and all that . . . So that's where I come from doing digital photography with the D70 . . . I also did black and white lithography - as a designer - 'cos it's the most dificult thing. Making duotones for graphic print etc. Knowing where your real 100% black begins . . .
Never trust your eyes looking at a histogram. They are not holy. Sometimes you don't need all the black and all-white can work great in a pic. Look at Helmut Newtons pics or the great 30s stuff. And I mean real pics in museums. You'll learn from that. Printers were real masters.
With a jpeg - good or bad - I can always make a nice and useable image. Photoshop is a miracle but you have to keep looking: at the image and not only at the graphs and figures . . .
And now spit on me.
Old fashioned Dinkel.
I started in the darkroom when I was 15 or so. Ilford Multigrade and all that . . . So that's where I come from doing digital photography with the D70 . . . I also did black and white lithography - as a designer - 'cos it's the most dificult thing. Making duotones for graphic print etc. Knowing where your real 100% black begins . . .
Never trust your eyes looking at a histogram. They are not holy. Sometimes you don't need all the black and all-white can work great in a pic. Look at Helmut Newtons pics or the great 30s stuff. And I mean real pics in museums. You'll learn from that. Printers were real masters.
With a jpeg - good or bad - I can always make a nice and useable image. Photoshop is a miracle but you have to keep looking: at the image and not only at the graphs and figures . . .
And now spit on me.
Old fashioned Dinkel.
dinkel said:
Never trust your eyes looking at a histogram. They are not holy. Sometimes you don't need all the black and all-white can work great in a pic. Look at Helmut Newtons pics or the great 30s stuff. And I mean real pics in museums. You'll learn from that. Printers were real masters.
With a jpeg - good or bad - I can always make a nice and useable image. Photoshop is a miracle but you have to keep looking: at the image and not only at the graphs and figures . . .
Nicely put Sir. The science helps get you there but at the end of the day you're making art and it's judged by other people's eyes, not a spectrophotometer
I know my pics above have a small burnt area but I can live with it as the rest of the picture pulls it together. Maybe the thing that defines art is that you can't resolve it to a number...?
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