Histogram, who uses it?

I use it lots of times. I use it to insure I am capturing specific information. I am one of those Expose to the right guys. I dont want to clip, however I do want as much detail as possible. Also for HDR work it is pretty valuable to know if you have all of the information in a scene.

Histograms are an extremely valuable tool.

Gregg.Siam wrote in post #14560981
And how do you check that if you don't use the histogram?

I use it all the time to make sure I'm not clipping blacks or whites. The most important part for me is to make sure it is exposed enough for portraits. This usually means going really close to the far right and may a bit more depending on lighting.

For stock/studio we check for blinkies most of the time.

The bar at the bottom with the numbers on it.

also, what are blinkies?

The option that you can turn on where it'll flash black and white on screen in the camera.

ive never used it. i use blinkies sometimes

AAphotog wrote in post #14561195
The bar at the bottom with the numbers on it.

also, what are blinkies?

The 'blinkies' is enabling the highlight warning. It lets you know when there are parts of the photo that are overexposed. And to the OP's question, I understand the histogram, but the 'blinkies' are enough for me.

I keep my screen set showing the histogram and just a small thumbnail of my photo. I never look at the photo, just the histogram to check and adjust exposures.

I use the brightness histogram most of the time but sometimes use RGB histograms when I'm shooting flora and fauna.

AAphotog wrote in post #14561195
The bar at the bottom with the numbers on it.

also, what are blinkies?

If all you are going to do in manual exposure mode is center the cameras TTL metering system for every shot; why not just use Tv or Av? The camera can center the meter much faster than you ever will. Manual is really there for the times when centering the meter (or being a fixed distance from it) is not going to give you good results. The sorts of situations that I am thinking of are for example different toned subjects in constant lighting or using studio flash. Manual also works well for Canons ETTL flash system as well, because it allows you to balance flash and ambient easily.
The thing is that in none of these cases are centering the TTL metering for each shot.

Alan

umphotography wrote in post #14560975
Another good tool as well. The histogram tells the story....to the left it's underexposed,,, to the right it's overexposed,,, down the middle solves the riddle,,,, use your histogram

is there a camera that shows dynamic histogram? on my 400d it only shows histogram on a pic already taken.

we need to see it before the pic is taken ie in live view or through the view finder

The histogram is incredibly useful. It is best to use the RGB histogram as this allows you to identify if one of the channels is clipping. It is so much more useful that just "getting the needle in the middle" as it allows you to ensure that the whites are not clipped and that there is detail in the shadows. You can also choose (for scenes with a high dynamic range) whether you want shadow or highlight detail.

fraiseap wrote in post #14561807
The histogram is incredibly useful. It is best to use the RGB histogram as this allows you to identify if one of the channels is clipping. It is so much more useful that just "getting the needle in the middle" as it allows you to ensure that the whites are not clipped and that there is detail in the shadows. You can also choose (for scenes with a high dynamic range) whether you want shadow or highlight detail.

still useless if u cant use it dynamically has posted above your post

jonneymendoza wrote in post #14561825
still useless if u cant use it dynamically has posted above your post

Ever learn after taking a pic? You evaluate the scene and meter appropriately and take the picture. Review the histogram and fine tune exposure accordingly. Can one do without it? Sure just like one can do without AF. The fact remains it is incredibly useful if the photographer chooses to use it.

has anyone got any good links to learn how to read the histograms? I look at them, but purely out of interest since I'm pretty much clueless in how to interpret them.

Turn on "blinks" if your camera body has the feature. Blinkies blinks the areas of the picture on the LCD panel where the shot is overexposed (no detail).

Set you camera to shoot raw format (to keep as much data as the camera can collect. Turn the picture style to neutral. Why? Because the camera will generate a small jpg thumbnail to let you view the composition on the back LCD. That thumbnail is generated using the current picture style. The RGB histogram is then generated from the thumbnail jpg. So if you use the neutral style, use the thumbnail image to see if there are blinks and to check composition. Use the RGB histogram to see if you need to shoot more to the right. Ideally you want as much information to the right of the histogram as possible without blowing out any significant details (check for blinks).

The more to the right the image appears in the RGB histogram, the more data there is in the raw file for LR, PSE, PS, DPP, Aperture or other post processing programs to use to create the final image. Once the raw file is processed, create jogs from it as needed for web pages, email....etc.

umphotography wrote in post #14560975
Another good tool as well. The histogram tells the story....to the left it's underexposed,,, to the right it's overexposed,,, down the middle solves the riddle,,,, use your histogram

This is Great!