professional photo techniques for all photographers

video: episode 5, camera meters and histograms

21 April 2008 11 Comments

Can you always trust your camera’s light meter? The answer is all in the histogram…

(subscribers, video may be viewed on the website ):

Here are some selected books on the topic of photographic exposure.


	Reference photographs used in the video
normal histogram	overexposed histogram	underexposed histogram



	Canon 20D on aperture priority auto / no exposure compensation
black card	gray card	white card



	black/gray/white cards

11 Comments »

Chris said:

Hi Jim,
This was a great explanation of Histograms. Thanks.

Can you do a video on the importance of setting appropriate white balance?

Keep up the awesome work.
Love the logo BTW.

# 21 April 2008 at 10:22 am

Calvin Hill said:

That was very good. I am going to watch that at least three more times to help burn into my brain . I agree with Chris, a video on white balance would be good. I use a grey card for setting the pre-white balance on my camera. If I forget the card ( 8×10 card), I always have a backup where it is a small card. I am not able to pre-white balance with the smaller one but I can take a picture of it and then in the digital dark room use it for the white balance (doing a batch process). Do you have any other suggestions of when you might forget both cards?

Thanks,
Calvin

# 21 April 2008 at 11:46 am

NormMonkey said:

Another excellent video, Jim. Thanks!

Great idea on suggesting a whitebalance video, Chris. I second the motion. Perhaps covering gels, too? Maybe that by itself is enough for one video.

# 21 April 2008 at 4:27 pm

Udi said:

Jim,
This is a great tutorial. (and a great experiment. I guess exposure compensation tutorial is something that I’d love to see next).

There is yet something I am not sure of. how come On the tri-segment picture, how come the black dont go all the way to the left and the white dont go all the way to the right?

- udi

# 27 April 2008 at 2:39 pm

Jim Talkington said:

Udi, that’s a good question. There are a couple of answers, I think. The cards are definitely black, grey and white, so your thoughts are accurate.

The black card has a little shine on it, though, from the angle of the sun, so it wasn’t a deep, rich black. Something like black velvet would have registered farther left because it really sucks up the light.

The white card wasn’t truly brilliant white. If it had been more like a specular highlight it would have registered to the very far right.

This is what I consider a “safe” histogram, though. The information is all there and in basically the right places. If we want to create a rich black and brilliant white, the levels can be stretched just a bit for more contrast. I hope this helps, I’ll write a bit more in tomorrow’s tech post.

# 28 April 2008 at 8:41 am

Dave Aldrich said:

Hi Jim

Thanks for these videos and all the info on your site. I’m graphic designer by trade who does photography more as a side. I’ve got a good eye for what makes a good photo but so lack the technical side for understanding how to make the technology work for me better. I found your simple explanation of the histogram very helpful.

# 12 May 2008 at 11:14 am

今日列表 | News on Photography said:

[...] Camera Meters and Histograms [...]

# 9 July 2008 at 12:27 pm

All About Photografi Link said:

[...] the LensTen Tips to Get Started in PhotographyLearning Exposure BasicsPhotography BasicsRAW vs. JPEGCamera Meters and HistogramsEight Tips to Better Photo Composition100 Photography TipsComposition & Framing in [...]

# 16 July 2008 at 6:09 am

Tracey said:

It must be on my end Jim. The vidoe doesnt show up the only thing I see is “Subscribers, video is available on website. Do you ever plan to compile your videos to DVD? The ameture strobists would eat that alive. Including me.

# 3 September 2008 at 2:13 pm