Digital
Camera: Histogram
A histogram
is a graph. In a digital camera it shows the exposure levels of
the photo shot. It's a simply shows the number of pixels from dark
to light and can easily be adjusted to the level of contrast you
desire.
A
good exposure will have the graph above the bottom line going from
left to right balancing brightness values completely. It is important
for the brightness areas to finish before the end of the graph on
either side.
If
the histogram stops short in the shape of a cliff rather than a
slope at the sides, detail is being clipped by the exposure.
To improve the detail of the image, adjust the exposure so the slope
of the histogram is inside the graph.
When
photographing in bright light most of the histogram valuse should
be to the right. Often bright objects will be underexposed and the
histogram values will be on the left side of the histogram. The
same thing occurs for darker scenery except the values will be on
the right side of the histogram.
Your
digital camera has an exposure compensation feature
that allows automatic modes to shift the histogram to the left or
right.
Digital
cameras
often have a histogram readout on the LCD
Monitor that lets you know immediately what the exposure levels
are of the image being shot.
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