Histogram question......

[LePhotography]

Hi all, new to the forum here. I've read alot on here about using the histogram on the camera to check exposure. This is all new to me so forgive my ignorance. I use the history screen on my D30 to read the shutter, ISO, aperature from particular shots but how do I read the "chart" for proper exposure?
Thanks ahead of time,
Sean

[Jim_T]

Here's a pretty good site..

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml


What's important is that your image 'heap' doesn't extend past the left or right borders.. Also.. You want this 'heap' as far to the right as possible without extending past the right border..

[robertwgross]

Once I have taken the photo, then the histogram is fixed. Of course, if the histogram shows something fairly bad (like everything jammed to the left border), then I can try to improve the exposure settings and shoot again.

However, once the image is into the computer, I use the shape of the histogram as my visual cue to what might need to be done to improve it. For example, if I have a "spike" at the left and another spike at the right, then often I do something with curves or gamma correction to improve it. Once in a while, a shot with a weird histogram needs to stay the way it is, and that is the cool effect desired. But I have sort of learned what the histogram tells me and what functions to perform for improvement. I don't use Photoshop, so the functions I do are similar, but not the same, as what Photoshop users do.

After you have done 50-100 images this way, you know what to do based on what the histogram suggests.

---Bob Gross---