*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with David on Instagram and Twitter @DavidBergman. LATEST UPDATE: David opened up new IGTV episodes where you can ask him questions live! find out more at http://www.AskDavidBergman.com
Today’s episode with photographer David Bergman and AdoramaTV is dedicated to deciphering that weird little graph on the back of your camera that “looks like a mountain range” and is called a histogram!
David shares with us – “… the dictionary definition of a histogram is quote a diagram consisting of rectangles whose area is proportional to the frequency of a variable and whose width is equal to the class interval.”
In other words, it is a simple graph of the brightness of the pixels in your image from pure black on the left to pure white all the way on the right. So how would histogram help you as a photographer? David continues – “… let’s talk for a second about dynamic range. Our eyes and our brain have the amazing ability to see and interpret the darkest darks all the way up to the lightest lights. In other words, I can look at a light sky and a dark building all at once and see not only the detail in the sky but also all the detail in the building!”
“The camera can actually only capture a limited range of these tones. Technically raw files capture a bit more outside of that range but let’s just talk about JPEGs for now. If you expose properly for the sky, the buildings are probably going to be way too dark.”
“At the same time if you decide to expose for the buildings, the sky is gonna be completely blown out. So if you look at your histogram and you have a nice mountain range in the middle of the graph, you’ve successfully exposed properly for all the tones in your image!”
“if it’s all pushed down to the left side, it’s a bit darker. If it’s pushed to the right side, it’s gonna be brighter. Keep in mind – there’s no right or wrong exposure! You might want your image to be dark or light. There’s no general rule as o where that histogram should be.”
So why would you use the histogram instead of just looking at the picture on the back of your screen ? Mr. Bergman answers – “First of all, those screens are not always the most accurate. They usually dialed in to be really punchy and contrasting, so the pictures look really good on them, and you can artificially change the brightness on them as well. Also in bright daylight it might be really hard to see that picture, so you can use the histogram to properly judge your exposure.”
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Watch the full episode with David Bergman and Adorama TV: