Did you ever see a little graph ( so-called histogram ), when you’re capturing images with your DSLR camera or even editing your images using lightroom or any other software and mobile application?
last day, I just found that graph on my camera, and I am very curious to know more about it, so I just searched on google “Learn histogram”.
and I found many PRO blogs, which are not easy for me to understand, so after watching some youtube videos and tons of text.
I finally understand how the histogram works, and why every photographer needs to know about it.
so I decided to create a simple article which helps the intermediate photographer to learn histogram within a small amount of time.
in this article, you’ll learn so many important things like what is a histogram.
also why you need to use a histogram when editing your images.
also answering some simple questions like do histogram helps you to capture better images?
this article is all in one kind of guide for all the histogram lovers, who want to know more about the histogram.
so without talking more about it, let’s get started…
How To Read And Learn Histogram?
so here is the first question…
what is a histogram in photography?
basically, it’s just a tool that helps you and also gives you more information about the image which you capture.
to get more information from your image, make sure you’re shooting in RAW.
using correct picture quality and histogram you’ll get the effect that you want to make your image looks so great & dynamic.
it’s one kind of guide that shows NoT (number of tones) in your images from black to white ( from left to right ), 0 to 100% brightness.
Ways to see histogram while shooting
now you know the basic meaning of histogram, so let’s find some ways to use it…
if you own a DSLR camera, then you must know how to use your DSLR camera.
just see some images which you captured and you’ll see something like this…
select playback mode to see all things together
so, here the little graph which is available next to the image is called a histogram.
This graph shows information of main three colors: Red, Green, and Blue.
using your histogram, you can easily check that your image is overexposed or underexposed.
so, that’s my personal suggestion to set your image view gallery which shows histogram + image.
this feature comes within every single DSLR camera.
use photo editing software…
if you don’t own a DSLR camera or somehow not able to see histogram on your DSLR camera then just use some editing software like lightroom ( paid ) & RawTherapee ( FREE ). (there are many more available in the market…)
This software helps you to edit your image more easily.
How to know my histogram is good or not?
in short…
What is a Good Histogram: A histogram which shows more tones in the middle part of the graph.
that means a perfectly balanced shot ( contain all the good RGB color combinations) with a good amount of tones and not so high and so low exposed shots are known as the best histogram.
so if your graph contains a good amount of tones in the center then it’s very nicely captured, and you can even edit it easily.
it works very easily if you captured images using RAW.
Words from my side…
honestly, I am not a big fan of histograms because I’m not that kind of PRO photographer so sometimes I use it, but not every single time.
so if you’re not a professional photographer then it’s ok to not use it when you’re capturing images, that’s totally your choice.
it definitely helps you to learn and gain more knowledge about photography, that’s for sure.
Related
hope you guys enjoyed this article and learn something new from it, have a good day 🙂
