Eden Photographers Club Meeting - Tuesday, August 16th @ 7pm EDT (Topic: histograms)

Contributor: Petite Valentine Petite Valentine
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK, so here is a histogram from my wife's point-and-shoot camera:



The software in this camera displays the histogram slightly differently, but the idea remains the same. However, this histogram shows that some of the tonalities ... more
Following.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Emma (Girl With Fire)
Maybe I'm just weird, but I love scratches and bruises from being outside.
There's a limit tho I'd think. And it also depends on how you get them. Earning them through legit hard work is one thing. Getting all scratched up because you took your motorcycle off the porch at a weird angle and it fall over into your mom's flowers and took you with it is another. lol
08/16/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
There's a limit tho I'd think. And it also depends on how you get them. Earning them through legit hard work is one thing. Getting all scratched up because you took your motorcycle off the porch at a weird angle and it fall over into your ... more
Yikes! Were they roses?
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy Wilde
I think so. What about the lines that go out the top of the histogram? I thought that was bad?
Going to the top of the histogram doesn't really matter. All that means is that there are more data there than can be displayed. None of those data are lost.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Emma (Girl With Fire) Emma (Girl With Fire)
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
There's a limit tho I'd think. And it also depends on how you get them. Earning them through legit hard work is one thing. Getting all scratched up because you took your motorcycle off the porch at a weird angle and it fall over into your ... more
Lol, nah, I love stuff like that too. It makes me laugh.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vanessa Weiss Vanessa Weiss
Dang, I was going to get out my camera and follow along with my histogram display (I'm fairly certain it has one even though it IS a little consumer-model point and shoot digicam) but it looks like my partner took it on vacation with him, or it's in my car. Ah well, I'll just read along and look over someone else's shoulder.
08/16/2011
Contributor: sexyintexas sexyintexas
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
I can attest that you like giving them to others inside as well.
LOL!
08/16/2011
Contributor: Wondermom Wondermom
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
There's a limit tho I'd think. And it also depends on how you get them. Earning them through legit hard work is one thing. Getting all scratched up because you took your motorcycle off the porch at a weird angle and it fall over into your ... more
or you were moving boxes in the storage area and clumsily fell over one as you walked into it....... not that its happened to me
08/16/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy Wilde
Yikes! Were they roses?
There might have been some, but I didn't think there were where I fell lol.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Emma (Girl With Fire)
Lol, nah, I love stuff like that too. It makes me laugh.
Lol, I laughed too, but it was a very humbling experience.
08/16/2011
Contributor: sexyintexas sexyintexas
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
There's a limit tho I'd think. And it also depends on how you get them. Earning them through legit hard work is one thing. Getting all scratched up because you took your motorcycle off the porch at a weird angle and it fall over into your ... more
Been there, done that
08/16/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Going to the top of the histogram doesn't really matter. All that means is that there are more data there than can be displayed. None of those data are lost.
So it's not pushing up the top edge that's bad, it's pushing against the side edges that is bad?
08/16/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Wondermom
or you were moving boxes in the storage area and clumsily fell over one as you walked into it....... not that its happened to me
I don't think I've managed to do that one just yet. But I haven't brought anything to storage in a long time.
08/16/2011
Contributor: sexyintexas sexyintexas
Quote:
Originally posted by Wondermom
or you were moving boxes in the storage area and clumsily fell over one as you walked into it....... not that its happened to me
Done that too!
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy Wilde
So it's not pushing up the top edge that's bad, it's pushing against the side edges that is bad?
Yes, as you'll see...
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Alrighty, then.

Now it's going to start getting a little more complicated. Take a look at these two images taken seconds apart, but with different exposure settings.




In the first image, the tonalities are pushed up against the right side of the histogram. In fact, there are still data that are beyond the right edge of the histogram that cannot be seen. The same thing goes with the second photo where the tonalities are bunched up at the left edge of the histogram.

Taking a look at the photos that accompany each histogram, you can see that the first image is overly bright, whereas the second image is overly shadowed. In general, this is what you don'twant. Photography processing software can retrieve a tiny bit of these "lost" data but most of it is lost forever. "Blown out" highlights will stay forever blown out. Pitch black shadows will forever hide their secrets. Even worse than that - and this is especially the case with data over the right edge of the histogram - the areas of the image represented by the "lost" data are often distracting to the eye and detract from the overall image. Sometimes blown-out highlights or ink-black shadows can add a lot to the artistic quality of an image, but most of the time they don't. It's up to you as a photographer to decide whether something is distracting or artistic

You still with me?
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vanessa Weiss Vanessa Weiss
Quote:
Originally posted by Wondermom
or you were moving boxes in the storage area and clumsily fell over one as you walked into it....... not that its happened to me
True story: I have a bruise on my leg right now from walking into my boyfriend's (parked, stationary, impossible to miss in daylight) motorcycle. I got it while moving a box. That's like, a combination of clumsily tripping on something and taking the motorcycle off the porch at a weird angle. Luckily I didn't knock his bike over, haha.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Alrighty, then.

Now it's going to start getting a little more complicated. Take a look at these two images taken seconds apart, but with different exposure settings.




In the first image, the tonalities are pushed up ... more
Yes.
08/16/2011
Contributor: sexyintexas sexyintexas
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Alrighty, then.

Now it's going to start getting a little more complicated. Take a look at these two images taken seconds apart, but with different exposure settings.




In the first image, the tonalities are pushed up ... more
So you want to stay close to the middle or at least where it isn't concentrated at the edges.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Alrighty, then.

Now it's going to start getting a little more complicated. Take a look at these two images taken seconds apart, but with different exposure settings.




In the first image, the tonalities are pushed up ... more
So far...
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vanessa Weiss Vanessa Weiss
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Alrighty, then.

Now it's going to start getting a little more complicated. Take a look at these two images taken seconds apart, but with different exposure settings.




In the first image, the tonalities are pushed up ... more
Following thus far
08/16/2011
Contributor: tooshy tooshy
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Alrighty, then.

Now it's going to start getting a little more complicated. Take a look at these two images taken seconds apart, but with different exposure settings.




In the first image, the tonalities are pushed up ... more
Yep, I always wondered what those chart things meant. Now I know they are histograms!!
08/16/2011
Contributor: Petite Valentine Petite Valentine
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Alrighty, then.

Now it's going to start getting a little more complicated. Take a look at these two images taken seconds apart, but with different exposure settings.




In the first image, the tonalities are pushed up ... more
Hangin' in there.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Starkiller87 Starkiller87
Im with you boss
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
Quote:
Originally posted by sexyintexas
So you want to stay close to the middle or at least where it isn't concentrated at the edges.
Well.... I'll get to that in a minute. In general, you don't want to go over the edges, but the peak of the histogram need not be in the center.
08/16/2011
Contributor: Vaccinium Vaccinium
OK. Trivia time! Now, usually I ask questions about the articles I've written the previous month for these trivia questions, but I've been pretty lax this month because of a photography trip and 12 hours a day of fixing all the rotten wood on our house and caulking the ridiculous number of cracks and gaps. As such, I'll need to come up with something else.

Ready?
08/16/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK. Trivia time! Now, usually I ask questions about the articles I've written the previous month for these trivia questions, but I've been pretty lax this month because of a photography trip and 12 hours a day of fixing all the rotten wood ... more
yup
08/16/2011
Contributor: sexyintexas sexyintexas
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
Well.... I'll get to that in a minute. In general, you don't want to go over the edges, but the peak of the histogram need not be in the center.
Gotcha
08/16/2011
Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK. Trivia time! Now, usually I ask questions about the articles I've written the previous month for these trivia questions, but I've been pretty lax this month because of a photography trip and 12 hours a day of fixing all the rotten wood ... more
Ready!
08/16/2011
Contributor: Wondermom Wondermom
Quote:
Originally posted by Vaccinium
OK. Trivia time! Now, usually I ask questions about the articles I've written the previous month for these trivia questions, but I've been pretty lax this month because of a photography trip and 12 hours a day of fixing all the rotten wood ... more
ready!
08/16/2011