Comments on: Histograms II — How To Use The Histograms

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:29:33 +0000

thanks for the info. The only comment I have, that might be misleading a bit, is when you say a shot is OVER or UNDER exposed when the histogram is shifted left or right. The histogram is providing data, not making a judgement. A snow scape will be shifted to the right, but doesn’t necessarily mean it is over exposed, or a poor shot. A night scene will be shifted to the left and doesn’t mean it is under exposed; just that most of the data is on those sides of the light spectrum, respectively.

By: Bill Merritt

Bill Merritt — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:00:13 +0000

This information is very much appreciated. I have been getting a lot of photos with very few or no “spikes”. It looks like small rolling hills all along the bottom of the histogram. Is it me or do I have a mechanical problem?
Thanks again for your advice.

By: Jonathan Jehan

Jonathan Jehan — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:07:23 +0000

Interesting article -but while the first example photo appears underexposed, I disagree with you that “all the details in the dark areas have been lost”, as there’s still white space to the left of the histogram -this image could be brightened with Photoshop etc and should look OK, though the contrast is poor.

Your second, overexposed, example is correct as the right side of the histogram has clearly been clipped away and the image is unrecoverable.

Keep up the good work!

By: Kurt Ingalls

Kurt Ingalls — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:05:25 +0000

Thank you for this great information!!! I hate to say it, but I have found that alot of people in the photo community can be somewhat snotty. In particular the people at camera shops. So thanks again for your hard work and easy to understand instructions!!!!

By: Denis Robinson

Denis Robinson — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:08:49 +0000

Wow,Thanks,

I’m kind of new to the digital world. I have wondered about histrograms, and how to use them. Your artical cleared up most of my questions. I’m sdure I’ll come up with more as I use them, but this was a great start toward understanding.

Thanks again,

Denis Robinson