All about Histogram video (free)

arodney

Everything you thought you wanted to know about Histograms

Another exhaustive 40 minute video examining:

What are histograms. In Photoshop, ACR, Lightroom.
Histograms: clipping color and tones, color spaces and color gamut.
Histogram and Photoshop’s Level’s command.
Histograms don’t tell us our images are good (examples).
Misconceptions about histograms. How they lie.
Histograms and Expose To The Right (ETTR).
Are histograms useful and if so, how?

Low rez (YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjPsP4HhHhE
High rez: http://digitaldog.net/files/Histogram_Video.mov

alaios

Hi I will have a look on your video later today during my train ride.
What is still confusing for me is the histogram and the metering mode. If I understand it right these two work independently. If I am shooting a portrait and have my metering mode to center or to spot should I keep still looking on histogram or not?

Regards
A

arodney

The histogram on the camera, metering mode not withstanding isn't correct for raw capture. Ignore it.

alaios

why??

Gary752

I just watched a workshop on Creative Live with Mark Wallace the other day, and he states that TTL Metering is stupid, in that it will expose pure whites and pure blacks as 18% grey. He always checks his histogram and fine tunes his exposure based on what his histogram on the back of the camera is telling him if he is using the meter in the camera. Normally he uses an external meter like the Sekonic L-358 (the one he used on his workshop) to get the exposure correct in one shot.

BTW: If you don't know who Mark Wallace is, he does a lot of the tutorials on Adorama's website.

Now I'm off to watch Andrew's video to learn more on this subject.

GaryB

arodney

Gary752 wrote: »

I just watched a workshop on Creative Live with Mark Wallace the other day, and he states that TTL Metering is stupid, in that it will expose pure whites and pure blacks as 18% grey.

He is correct about reflective meters. Well some argue about the percentage values but 18% is fine with me. Point the meter at white snow, the meter 'see' gray at that value. It's kind of stupid in that respect except the photographer is supposed to understand the readings and adjust accordingly. It's simply providing a value, one has to understand how to use that value.

The same is true for exposing for raw or JPEG. Different data, different development. The meter readings have to be correct for that but that's just one part.

pathfinder

Incident meters have been used for years, especially in movie filming, but there are some things you just cannot meter with an incident meter.

Try a spotlighted subject on a theatrical stage ( unless you can get on the stage as well ), or a very close up macro photo, or sitting in a stadium in the shaded seats, and trying to meter the pitcher out in the sun, for just a few examples.

Gary, I own and use an L-358, especially as a flash meter, and like it. But the reflected meters are in all our cameras, so we may as well know/learn how to use them too.

There is no single, always accurate system of metering. The "correct exposure" involves an element of photographic judgement, doesn't it? Not for shooting grey scales, of course, but for nicely executed fine art I believe it does. Where your black point is in your image, is your artistic choice, not a light meters decision.