Understanding how to read and utilize a histogram to improve your photography

 

 

There are few things as universally useful and important to understand in digital photography than the histogram. There are plenty of ways to learn about the histogram, but Nathaniel Dodson of tutvid's new video is certainly a solid choice. In under ten minutes, you can learn to read a histogram properly and figure out what kind of information it contains. Further, you can learn more about how a histogram works within Photoshop.

If you have a spike in your histogram on the left, that means you've clipped your black levels and there is black areas in your image with no detail. Likewise, on the right edge of the histogram is pure white. If you have a spike on the right side, that means that there are pure white pixels in your image. Generally, you want to have a fairly balanced exposure, meaning that you have minimized detail lost to pure black or white pixels. For a much more detailed look at histograms, check out the video below.

(Via tutvid)