Histogram, who uses it?

jonneymendoza wrote in post #14561788
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

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

1) Newer bodies show preshot histograms in live view
2) Just because you have to check histograms after the shot is taken, doesn't make the feature useless. In many cases, you can adjust and retake the shot.
3) If you are not comfortable changing settings quickly and often in manual when shooting a more dynamic scene, then Tv and Av work quite well, and you can set EC accordingly to push your histogram to the right.

You guys that are not using your histogram are foolish. Read and learn what a histogram is trying to tell you and use the tool. Its just like a viewfinder to chimp and see your image, EXCEPT, your looking at a historgram that indicates how the computer sees the image as well.

To the left is all black
to the right is all white
middle ground is grey

If everything is pushed left you have an underesposed image
If everything is pushed right, you are overexposed,,blinkies should go off if camera is set up that way.

Look at your lightroom and bridge programs. There is a histogram there. Tell you wnats going on when you develop. Same histogram in your camera.........get it right in your cameras histogram and life is easier in posrt production. You wont be coming on the forum and asking,,,,,Why are my picturtes so dark,,,why are my pictures to bright,,,,,you wont have that problem because you kept you histogram in the middle.

READ THIS

http://www.luminous-landscape.com …standing-histograms.shtml

umphotography wrote in post #14562064
You guys that are not using your histogram are foolish. Read and learn what a histogram is trying to tell you and use the tool. Its just like a viewfinder to chimp and see your image, EXCEPT, your looking at a historgram that indicates how the computer sees the image as well.

To the left is all black
to the right is all white
middle ground is grey

If everything is pushed left you have an underesposed image
If everything is pushed right, you are overexposed,,blinkies should go off if camera is set up that way.

Look at your lightroom and bridge programs. There is a histogram there. Tell you wnats going on when you develop. Same histogram in your camera.........get it right in your cameras histogram and life is easier in posrt production. You wont be coming on the forum and asking,,,,,Why are my picturtes so dark,,,why are my pictures to bright,,,,,you wont have that problem because you kept you histogram in the middle.

READ THIS

http://www.luminous-landscape.com …standing-histograms.shtml

thanks for the link but there's no need for that kind of comment.

Owain Glyndwr wrote in post #14562074
thanks for the link but there's no need for that kind of comment.

Sometimes the truth is hard to hear. A Histogram is your tool to get proper exposure. Its like a bubble on a level. You would not want to live in a crooked building would you? You would not want your food to slide off the table when you sit down to eat because its crooked would you ??

Same principal for the histogram and you are foolish if you try to to do something ( taking properly exposed photos) w/o the proper tools to do the job or a basic understanding of what that tool (the histogram) is trying to tell you. Knowledge is power. Knowing what your histogram is telling you makes you a smarter better educated photographer. Kind of like learning your ABC's before you start to read. Thats how basic a histogram is to digital photography.

So if your taking pictures and not understanding why and how your camera works and not understanding what the tools are telling you as to how to get a proper exposure....what else do you call it ?

Maybe uninformed would be a better word.....can we all get back to playing no score soccer so no one will get their feelings or self esteem trampled on,,,,,,,,,,,puuullleeee​se

A note here is that the need for the histogram is just because the sensor have a limited dynamic range and we have to fit the scene as well as possible within the usable range.

With a sensor with seriously high dynamic range, we could get my with just the exposure needle, and the camera would be able to reserve a couple of stops extra for highlights and still have ample number of stops for the shadows.

So while the histogram is one of the most valuable tools we have, it's mainly there as a work-around to maximize our in-camera resources. Then we will use our PC programs to adjust the exposure of our final image.

umphotography wrote in post #14562182
Sometimes the truth is hard to hear. A Histogram is your tool to get proper exposure. Its like a bubble on a level. You would not want to live in a crooked building would you? You would not want your food to slide off the table when you sit down to eat because its crooked would you ??

Same principal for the histogram and you are foolish if you try to to do something ( taking properly exposed photos) w/o the proper tools to do the job or a basic understanding of what that tool (the histogram) is trying to tell you. Knowledge is power. Knowing what your histogram is telling you makes you a smarter better educated photographer. Kind of like learning your ABC's before you start to read. Thats how basic a histogram is to digital photography.

So if your taking pictures and not understanding why and how your camera works and not understanding what the tools are telling you as to how to get a proper exposure....what else do you call it ?

Maybe uninformed would be a better word.....can we all get back to playing no score soccer so no one will get their feelings or self esteem trampled on,,,,,,,,,,,puuullleeee​se

I agree, and I think foolish is a good term, especially considering that the feature is already there on the device purchased, and countless threads already stating this very sentiment exist over the past several years. Don't use your exposure meter or your LCD view of the JPG on the back as your gauge of how well exposed your image is... Been there and done it myself!

Wisdom is knowledge gained by experience, foolishness is to ignore wisdom.

Yeah I always use it. Both in cam and in Lightroom.
Still strugling to judge "good exposure". The Histogram does help.

pwm2 wrote in post #14562207
A note here is that the need for the histogram is just because the sensor have a limited dynamic range and we have to fit the scene as well as possible within the usable range.

With a sensor with seriously high dynamic range, we could get my with just the exposure needle, and the camera would be able to reserve a couple of stops extra for highlights and still have ample number of stops for the shadows.

So while the histogram is one of the most valuable tools we have, it's mainly there as a work-around to maximize our in-camera resources. Then we will use our PC programs to adjust the exposure of our final image.

The problem is that the exposure needle is tied to your metering mode, and unless you want to adjust 4 factors each time in manual mode to just use the needle to figure out your exposure, it is better to use the histogram. Also, you know what you want properly exposed, the camera doesn't even if you were to use the correct metering mode to drive the exposure gauge. Finally, only a few models actually tie the metering mode to the AF point selected, thus making it even harder with models that don't do this.

This is why Canon has activated a histogram in Liveview so you can actually tweak settings before the shot while observing the effects on the histogram.

I do use the histogram.... no doubt! But at times the histogram can LIE! Case in point, the dance recital last weekend; had I gone by the histogram (exposing to the right) every single shot would have been extremely over-exposed. I purposefully under-exposed -2EV (On average), and still needed to correct blown highlights to get the shots to turn out decent.

So I absolutely use the histogram, but have learned to over-ride what it suggests, as a good exposure, in certain situations.

davidc502 wrote in post #14562357
I do use the histogram.... no doubt! But at times the histogram can LIE! Case in point, the dance recital last weekend; had I gone by the histogram (exposing to the right) every single shot would have been extremely over-exposed. I purposefully under-exposed -2EV (On average), and still needed to correct blown highlights to get the shots to turn out decent.

So I absolutely use the histogram, but have learned to over-ride what it suggests in certain situations.

Not sure what you mean by this? As long as your histogram doesn't show any clipping against the right side, you would have been fine. You could have brought down any highlights if you needed to, and bring up any shadows that you needed to. You cannot correct "blown highlights" because if they are blown, the data is already gone/clipped and you cannot recover that.

EDIT: I will add that your picture style settings will change your histogram, at least your RGB one. This is why it is probably best to just shoot in neutral, or do UNIWB. Shoot the same scene with different WB and picture styles to see the effects.

Steven_nl wrote in post #14562269
Yeah I always use it. Both in cam and in Lightroom.
Still strugling to judge "good exposure". The Histogram does help.

Steve

Go out by a medium size photovision calibration disc. It has 3 lines on it. White,grey,black. Put the target so that the black side matches what your camera is telling. Black will face camera left.

Take a test shot and adjust your exposure to where the middle grey is dead bang in the center of your histogram.....exposure will be dead bang on the money. go to photovision and study this. it helped me a ton.

Watch this

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=ubHNCCyGqBs

TeamSpeed wrote in post #14562364
Not sure what you mean by this? As long as your histogram doesn't show any clipping against the right side, you would have been fine. You could have brought down any highlights if you needed to, and bring up any shadows that you needed to. You cannot correct "blown highlights" because if they are blown, the data is already gone/clipped and you cannot recover that.

Maybe I'm not using the correct terminology. If so I apologize. What I'm trying to relay is even though I manually shot this recital at -2EV (most of the time/as best I could), the histogram showed <- FAR LEFT Corner. When I manually brought the histogram to the right, maybe 2/3rds right, the shot appeared way over-exposed.

Even though I shot -2EV I still had to do highlight correction on them. Yes, that isn't lost/blown data, as it looked like the correction did what it was supposed to. You are correct.

This particular recital had exceptionally poor lighting as it was a public middle school. Dancers in the back had very little lighting and dancers in the front were nice and bright.... talk about an exposure nightmare depending on the subject.
I'm at work now, but will try to post some examples tonight. I think I've already deleted the over-exposed shots, but I still have photos I haven't corrected yet. Hopefully I'll be able to show where those are on the histogram.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #14562019
1) Newer bodies show preshot histograms in live view
2) Just because you have to check histograms after the shot is taken, doesn't make the feature useless. In many cases, you can adjust and retake the shot.
3) If you are not comfortable changing settings quickly and often in manual when shooting a more dynamic scene, then Tv and Av work quite well, and you can set EC accordingly to push your histogram to the right.

on point 2, there are some shots u simply cannot retake again. infact unless your taking a landscape static scene, most cases you dont have a chance to retake that killer shot again.

Dynamic histogram would be far more useful for some as you can pre configure your settings in a scene before pressing that shutter button

jonneymendoza wrote in post #14562417
on point 2, there are some shots u simply cannot retake again. infact unless your taking a landscape static scene, most cases you dont have a chance to retake that killer shot again.

Dynamic histogram would be far more useful for some as you can pre configure your settings in a scene before pressing that shutter button

Sure, but I was addressing your statement that it is "useless" after the fact, when in fact, it is only useless in certain situations, and even then, if you are there before the activity starts, you probably could set up the settings early.

I would say dynamic histograms would be just as "useless" in the same situations you are talking about, because if you are using live view to try to focus and change your settings to make the live histogram where you want it, your moment is just as lost as when you shoot, look at the histogram, change settings and shoot again.

either way, both is needed to suit peoples different needs