Blown Highlights (Histogram stuff)

[clams]

So I was looking at some histograms of some outdoor shots that I took and I realized that on the histogram, there was one thin tiny part that spiked over to the right. Even so, it the rest of the histogram appeared nice and evenly distributed.

Is it overexposed with this tiny spike all the way on the right?

[Quad]

jpeg likely, RAW maybe. The histogram is telling you the built in jpeg preview has some values at 255 or more (pure white no detail). The built in jpeg has undergone some processing.

There also could be a specular highlight in which case you are bound to see a spike.

In a RAW file you can often recover detail that would be missing in an in-camera conversion.

There should be a bit of flashing in the preview and that will tell you where the detail is gone from, that should give you more information as to where detail may be missing and how important it is.

[JeffreyG]

There is no way to tell without seeing the shot.

Sometimes a scene will have bright tones that are really small or in the background that will essentially have to blow out in order to get the rest of the scene properly exposed. So long as the photographer is getting the important tones in the scene to be exposed as they want them then the scene is 'correct'

There is no such thing as a 'correct' histogram in a global case. Every scene will have a unique shape. If you have a dark image then the histogram will be piled up to the left.

These two examples are exposed as I wanted them, and neither has an evenly distributed histogram. One has extensive blown highlights on purpose.

[clams]

There is no such thing as a 'correct' histogram in a global case. Every scene will have a unique shape. If you have a dark image then the histogram will be piled up to the left.


That clarifies it a lot. Thanks for the help!

[René Damkot]

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

[PhotosGuy]

Correct Exposure (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=689216)

[HappySnapper90]

Is it overexposed with this tiny spike all the way on the right?

Probably yes. It's probably a small portion of the scene, maybe in the background that's a reflection off a car or a portion of bright sky or something white that is getting direct sunlight. But are those blown highlight portions important to the overall photo? Probably not.

[clams]

Probably yes. It's probably a small portion of the scene, maybe in the background that's a reflection off a car or a portion of bright sky or something white that is getting direct sunlight. But are those blown highlight portions important to the overall photo? Probably not.

Wow you got it on the spot. It was the sky and just tiny tiny parts surrounding the subject that seemed to have blown highlights. Thanks for the help!