HISTOGRAMS

Hi guys, I don't know what your average number of photos per day is but on a trip into the mountains I usually come home with just over 100. From these I may have 10-15 keepers. What I find myself increasingly doing is using the histogram straight after a shot and then deciding if it's a keeper or not. Yesterday no matter how many different settings I used for this one scene I couldn't get a decent looking histogram. It was daylight, quite good daylight but the histogram showed a flat line along the bottom and a spike on the highlight side. On the basis of the histogram I kept deleting each attempt in the camera. It was only on getting home that I thought how could I be sure they weren't any good ? Is looking at the histogram a reliable way of prechecking whether a photo is any good or not ?

DERYN

I would prefer to get a decent looking photograph than a 'decent looking histogram'.

I only use the histogram to check for blown highlights. Even then the camera histogram often tells porkies.
I would never delete anything based on the histogram. That is quite a bizarre way to work.
Surely you look at the image?
All sorts of errors can be recovered back home.

If I am taking a series of shots in similar conditions I check the histogram on the firs one and then just carry on shooting. I never delete anythything until I am back on the computer.
Processing and creative cropping has produced many a shot I am happy to keep.

1: Don't delete anything in camera unless you are short of memory.
2:The histogram will give you a good indication of whether a shot is a keeper or not if you know how to interpret it properly.

Here is a good tutorial on understanding histograms.

The histogram is only showing you how many pixels there are of each brightness level from 0-255. If you had a spotlit tree against a dark background your histogram would heavily be on the left, and so it should.

I think it would be very wise if you stopped looking at the histogram until you are back at the computer and look at the images first. Then by all means look at the histogram and learn to use what it is telling you.

I suspect a lot us users do not really understand what the histogram is and are looking for a nice even shape that rises in the middle and goes to either end. That's fine for an average subject full of midtones, but it's meaningless unless related to the scene being shot.

Hi guys, you've made me realise that I'm paying much to much attention to the in camera histogram. I've been deciding on keepers based on the histogram even before viewing the photo ! I shall certainly stop doing that and concentrate more on composing the picture then reviewing it later on the computer.

DERYN

In the tuturial that Mannesty posted there is a good piece of information:

allso some good information:

More helpful than the histogram, I find, is the Bright/Dark Area warning. This shows what parts of the image are totally blown or black. It's quicker to "read" than a histogram too.

The histogram, when you understand it, can be useful as well, but remember that there is leeway when it comes to post processing. It may not quite be optimal, but it doesn't matter very much if you have to adjust the brightness/contrast of an image as long as no parts of it (that are important to you) are off the edge of the scale.

Hi, on my compact camera I usually find the bright/dark area warning very useful to prevent blown highlights. I havn't come across this on the K10.

DERYN

It's a setting in the menu... look for it or read in the manual.

shim

I'm just an amateur and use the histogram to indicate areas of weakness in my setup. I take another shot on different settings to see if I can improve and learn. Sometimes a shot may appear under-exposed etc...but the shot was good otherwise...dare I say it?....thank heavens for Photo Premium 10 S/W.

Rob

Peased Im not the only one who suffers from the histogram LOL.I sometimes spend ages trying to overcome the same problem trying out a number different settings.
Ian

You do have that option on your K10D too. Go to the Playback menu and see Playback display and Instant Review.

Thanks very much, I've got that sorted now. It is probably just me but I don't find the manual very user friendly at all.
The light and dark function is useful for me as I do a lot of shooting in the mountains and the coast and the sky can sometimes prove a problem with blowing highlights. (will sort some filters out when I can afford it)

thanks again and brilliant place to get problems sorted, well done Pentaxuser.

DERYN