Histogram: Am I reading this wrong?

[BrianS]

I got up early this morning to shoot the skyline of SF as the sun got up. When I looked at all the pictures I took they all came out very un-sharp and dull. I look at the histogram in Lightroom and see that it looks like the RGB colors are "off" (not aligned). Did I do something wrong here?

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii73/AshDimp/Histogram.jpg

Here's one of the pictures

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii73/AshDimp/BBSunrise080831-1.jpg

[Hermeto]

Sharpness has nothing to do with histogram.
RGB coluors in the ‘real world’ photo will never be aligned.

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

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/histograms1.htm

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/histograms2.htm

[Wilt]

'dull' can be fixed merely increasing the Contrast in PP

[Mike]

I got up early this morning to shoot the skyline of SF as the sun got up. When I looked at all the pictures I took they all came out very un-sharp and dull. I look at the histogram in Lightroom and see that it looks like the RGB colors are "off" (not aligned). Did I do something wrong here?

Don't forget that shooting in RAW your camera will apply no sharpening, something that needs to be done in pp later.


'dull' can be fixed merely increasing the Contrast in PP

Exactly.

[doctorgonzo]

The histograms will only be aligned if you are taking a photo of something uniformly grey or white. The reason the blue spike is to the right of the others is because you are taking a photo that is very full of blue (sky and water).

[tim]

Add contrast and a little saturation, the sharpen - as people have said.

[chauncey]

In addition to what Tim and the others have said...
in your RAW processor, set your gray/white point to one of the gray containers on the ship and make your blue luminance anout -40.

[BrianS]

Thanks for the explanation guys, I hadn't thought about that RAW didn't apply any PP. Logically now that I think about it.

In addition to what Tim and the others have said...
in your RAW processor, set your gray/white point to one of the gray containers on the ship and make your blue luminance anout -40.

How do I do this in Lightroom? I can do the Luminance on Blue but how do I set the gray/white point on the grey containers? Is that when I do W (White Balance ) and then click on one of the white (don't see any grey ones) containers?

This is what it looks like after applying
- Contrast from 45 to 59
- Blue, Luminance to -40
- Changed the curve a bit

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii73/AshDimp/BBSunrise080831-2.jpg

[tim]

I don't have photoshop here, but you've made virtually no change. In photoshop go into levels, drag the sliders so that when you're done the histogram reaches the left and right (if you don't know what this means just use auto levels). then add 25-50 contrast, and 20 saturation. I'll have a play when I get home if I remember.

[tim]

Auto levels did most of this, I added a little extra contrast, general saturation, extra saturation in the blues, then a mild vignette.

[BrianS]

I tried using Auto Levels in PS (doesn't this exist in LR?) plus some of the edits that Tim suggested. I am still not completely satisfied. I still think there is too much blue in the picture. What would I do to get this closer to Tim's?

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii73/AshDimp/GGSunrise080901-3.jpg

Btw, I do appreciate the feedback everybody have been giving me. I realize I will have to sharpen my PP skills quite a bit when I shoot in RAW.

[tim]

I don't know why yours came out different from mine - have you change settings in the RAW converter, like white balance?

Anyway, in RAW you do it differently. Adjust the blacks and exposure sliders until the histogram hits both ends, and until it looks good. Adjust brightness if you want to. Next adjust white balance, contrast, and saturation. You don't need to go into Photoshop at all to do this, doing it in ACR/RAW is way faster, and you can work on batches.

[MT59]

Here's my take on it. PSE 2, Auto Contrast, Auto Color Correction, Slight boost in Levels, USM 125/.4/3.