Mastering Photographic Histograms

By Al Judge

Prescott, Arizona
Copyright © 2016 by Al Judge

All images and illustrations in this book are copyrighted and the property of
Al Judge, with a few exceptions.

Images from other sources are properly attributed below the image.

www.aj-foto.com and www.AJPhotoBooks.com

 Table of Contents
Introduction
Overview
A Quick Look Ahead
My Approach & Philosophy
What to Expect From This Book

Chapter One — What is a Histogram?

Overview
Exposure Zones
The Problem with Reflected-Light Meters
Incident vs Reflected Light
Back to the Exposure Zones
Quantifying the Zones

Chapter Two — Defining and Using Colors in

Photography
Overview
The Science of Colors
Defining Colors
Color Space & Gamut
Summary

Chapter Three — Developing and Defining

Photographic Histograms
Overview
Photographic Histograms
256 Shades of Gray
Types of Histograms
Some Definitions
Dissecting Histograms
A Brief Review

Chapter Four — Applying Histograms

Overview
Histograms and Exposure
Post Processing Histograms
Shooting to the Right
Histogram Examples

Conclusion
Why Reviews Help Everybody
Photography Books by Al Judge
Glossary
Introduction
Overview
In this relatively short and highly illustrated book we will develop the
concept of Photographic Histograms from the ground up. By taking small
steps, I hope that your understanding will occur in a way that is effortless
and long lasting.
Histograms are intimidating for most people who are new to
Digital Photography.
Histograms were not a part of film photography, so even experienced film
photographers often have to learn this new skill.
Key principles will be repeated numerous times during the presentation.
Hopefully, this will help you to retain these important lessons. Please
forgive the redundancy. We will be covering a lot of material and repetition
will help you to remember key concepts.

Photographic Histograms exist for the purpose of fine-tuning

your exposure settings in the field and maximizing the impact
of your images in the post-processing phase — Photoshop or a
similar editing program.

Never use the LCD screen on your digital camera as an indicator of proper
exposure — ambient light and the backlight setting on your camera can
produce misleading information about exposure. It should be used for
composition and focus only. The histogram should be your primary tool for
evaluating exposure.
Most digital cameras have the ability to display a histogram. The two
images below (Figure 1) were borrowed from a Nikon website. Most
cameras will give you a choice of just the Luminosity Histogram (Left)or
Luminosity with Color Channels (Right). A Color Channel Histogram is a
histogram based on a single primary color — Red, Green, or Blue.
Image Source:
https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6803/~/display-
histogram-on-camera
In my book, Tricks and Tips, I introduce my readers to the ExpoDisc. This
is the only tool that I trust as much as the histogram and, in fact, it must be
used in conjunction with the histogram. When the ExpoDisc is used, the
proper exposure appears as a vertical line at the midpoint of the histogram
(Figure 2). Often in bright sunlight it is difficult to see the entire
histogram. I placed a dot of White Out on my LCD at the center of the
histogram. When I see a vertical line passing through the white dot, I know
that I have the correct exposure. The ExpoDisc also has the benefit of
setting the White Balance.
http://www.expodisc.com/
A Quick Look Ahead
In Chapter One, we will start by creating a simple histogram based on the
Exposure Zones System created by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer. This
will not only define histograms but will help you to understand their
relevance in Digital Photography.
Chapter Two will be a short detour from our discussion of histograms, in
order to develop a better understanding of how colors are treated in
Photography. This knowledge will make our study of histograms more
meaningful and less confusing. This is an important topic, since colored
lights act differently than colored pigments. We will discuss why this is
true. The information in this chapter goes beyond the topic of histograms.
This background will clarify how colors are treated in digital photography
and help to demystify this topic.
Chapter Three is an in-depth look at the many faces of histograms. By the
end of this chapter, you should be very comfortable with the concept of
histograms and confident enough to use them effectively.
Chapter Four is dedicated to examples of photos and analyzing their
histograms.
I have also included a Glossary of Terms at the back of the book.
My Approach & Philosophy
For me, time is my most valuable asset. I only have so much left, I don’t
know how much is left, and I really hate wasting it. With that in mind, I
really appreciate it when I read a non-fiction book that is content-dense. By
that I mean, very little wasted rhetoric. A certain amount of non-specific
dialog is necessary to establish rapport with readers, but then I get anxious to
learn something and hate fluff and colorful banter that doesn’t enhance my
learning.
Because of this personal bias, I tend to write books that are content-dense,
even when they involve real-life stories to illustrate key points. This book is
no different.
My goal is to help you move from your current level of photographic
expertise to total control and confidence in the most efficient way possible.
Throughout this book, I will often use initial caps, all caps, bold fonts, and
italics for emphasis. With so much content, I want to be certain that key
points are recognized as such.
I can’t guarantee great works of art by tomorrow, but I can give you an
important tool in your quest to achieve that goal in the time it takes to read
this book.
That is not to say that this book alone will teach you everything that you
need to know about Photographic Histograms. I know some very
successful Master Photographers who still read about photography every
day. So if they are still learning new things after 30 or 40 years in the
profession, there is a limit to what I can actually cover effectively in a book.
With that in mind, I have tried to cover the most important information in
enough detail that it will accelerate your learning significantly.
After writing my first draft of my first book, I read some best sellers on
photography. I wanted to be certain that I had something to bring to the
party. The thing that seemed to be most absent in other books was
visualization aids.
Like most people, I understand things by visualizing them. I form an image
in my mind when people explain something and I use that image to follow
the discussion. If my image is erroneous, I will have a difficult time
following the discussion. If I am unable to modify my mental image enough
to get the points being made, I go elsewhere and research the topic until I
have enough information to complete the puzzle. In my own personal
journey in the world of photography, I have discovered that photographic
terms are commonly used without definition and that parts of the camera are
often referred to as if we are all technicians who could repair a camera in our
sleep.
I have decided to take a slightly different approach than others have in
writing photography books. I believe that if you understand how a camera
works, everything else about photography will make more sense. I could
simply tell you that you need a large aperture setting when you make
portraits of your spouse and kids. I could also tell you that histograms are
used to fine-tune exposure settings. This is what most books on
photography will tell you.

But what if you understood why these settings work so well and had a
mental image of how these settings affect the light entering the camera?
With this understanding, every image that you capture will teach you
something of real significance – not just give you a vague idea of what
works and what doesn’t.
If you have read one of my other books, such as, Mastering
Digital Cameras or Mastering Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO and Exposure
you are well prepared for adding histograms to your photographic skills.
This does not mean that these books are pre-requisites. I do my best to
write each book in a way that requires no prior knowledge of the
subject.
With the use of numerous images, I can make the discussion less technical.
This should improve communication and give you a solid base for moving
forward. I promise to make it as painless as I possibly can. Until you
understand a camera, you will not really understand how to use it to its
fullest potential. You will be learning by trial and error and “shooting
in the dark.”
What to Expect From This Book
I have challenged myself to carefully review every statement to be certain
that it is written clearly and in a way that does not assume any photographic
experience on the part of the reader. From personal experience, this is what I
have found most frustrating about even the best photography books.
Invariably, a term or concept that I have never heard before is mentioned as
casually as if it were universally known. I promise that I will make every
effort to avoid this type of confusion. If I slip up, please let me know
(ajudex@hotmail.com). I welcome and appreciate any constructive
criticism; it helps me to improve my books.

My plan is to build a solid foundation, one topic at a time, until a thorough

yet understandable presentation has developed.

Some Conventions Used in this book

Definitions are identified by font and color so that they are easy to find
when you review the book for a specific topic.
Significant terms are identified by a bold, italic font.
 Chapter One
What is a Histogram?
Overview
Although Digital Photography requires a film photographer to learn new
skills, techniques and terms, it is a natural progression from Film
Photography. Because of this, many of the basic concepts developed for
film are still valid for digital images.

Ansel Adams was an innovator all his life and is responsible for many of the
best practices in photography. His mastery of the darkroom was largely
responsible for his success and greatly enhanced his understanding of the
entire process of creating great images.

Anyone who is serious about film photography will eventually learn to use
the Zone System.
Exposure Zones
To fully appreciate the Photographic Histogram, we need to look back at its
origins and the Zone System developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer
around 1939.
Ansel Adams was more than a great photographer. He had a rare talent for
post- processing film. Behind that talent was a profound understanding of
how light affects photographic film and light-sensitive papers. This
understanding had come from years of experience in the Darkroom. Adams
was also an innovator and is largely responsible for the evolution of
photography into a recognized art form.
The Zone System is, in Adams’ words, a codification of principles of
sensitometry — the study of light sensitivity of photographic materials.
With the help of the Zone System, a photographer could optimize his
camera’s exposure settings as well as the developing process.
Although the system was originally developed for black & white film
images, it is applicable across the entire range of photography.
The Problem with Reflected-Light Meters
The exposure meters that are built into digital cameras are called reflected-
light meters. When the camera’s exposure meter is used to determine the
proper camera settings, there are some limitations associated with the
metering. The camera can’t tell the difference between a brightly lit dark
object and a poorly lit bright object. All that it knows is the amount of
light being reflected by the object.
—O—
Let’s start by visualizing a black and white image. Some part of the image
will be pure black and some part will be pure white. The black portion will
not reflect any light and the white portion will reflect most of the light that
strikes it. Between these two extremes are areas that will reflect a portion of
the light that strikes them.
The exact mid-point between Pure Black and Pure White is called Middle
Gray or Neutral Gray. It has a reflectance of 18%. In other words, 18%
of the light striking an object of this exact shade of gray will be reflected
back at the camera.
The exposure meters that are built into cameras are Reflected-
Light Meters — they measure the light that is reflected by objects in the
image. These meters have been designed to assume that the average
reflectance of an image is 18% — Middle Gray — and to choose Aperture
and Shutter Speed settings in accordance with that assumption. In MOST
cases these exposure settings work very well.
—O—
But what happens if the image doesn’t conform to the norm? For example, a
photo taken in a snow storm will be mostly white. If the camera treats it like
any other image, it will significantly underexpose the image because it
thinks that 18% of the light is being reflected when it is more likely that 80%
to 90% is actually being reflected. The camera will attempt to make the
bright snow look gray instead of white. So the camera grossly misjudges the
nature of the reflected light and underexposes the image.
When the camera’s meter measures the reflected light from the snow, it
assumes that it is measuring the light reflected by a gray object. In this case,
since it is measuring a lot of light, it would assume that the object is very
well lit and requires very little exposure time. The result is a very dark and
dull looking snow scene.
Now imagine that the composition of the image is such that it is very dark.
This is often done in portrait photography to create drama. In this case, the
meter will once again misjudge the amount of light being reflected by the
object and significantly overexpose the image.
In every case, the camera will attempt to render the image as middle
gray — the exact midpoint between black and white.
If this seems counter-intuitive to you, you are not alone. This can be a
difficult concept to wrap your mind around. Just remember, the camera’s
meter will always assume that the average value of the scene is Middle
Gray and will want to set the exposure accordingly. If the image is intended
to be dark, you will have to reduce the exposure. If the image is very bright,
you will have to increase the exposure.
Fortunately, histograms take the guesswork out of exposure settings and
simplify the process of taking great photos.
This basic principle of operation holds true for color images as well as black
& white images.
Incident vs Reflected Light
The light coming from the sun is full-spectrum light. In other words, it
contains all wavelengths of light.

When sunlight strikes an object, many wavelengths are absorbed by the

object while others are reflected. The reflected light is called partial-
spectrum light because it no longer contains all wavelengths of light.

The built-in light meters in cameras measure the reflected light and try to
make assumptions about the exposure based on reflected light only.

A more accurate way to measure the light is to use an Incident-

Light Meter. This type of meter measures the light that is striking the
object rather than the light reflected by the object. These meters range from
$80 to $800, so some research is required if you decide to take this extra
step.

This image was borrowed from the BH Photo website.

The image above is just one of many meters available from bhphoto.com.
They also have a tutorial about light meters on their site. This particular
meter can be purchased for about $150.

Basically, you set your ISO – in this case 200 – and point the meter at the
light source. It then shows an exposure value (EV) – in this case 12. You
then rotate the White outer wheel until 12 is centered in the small window
above the screen. This then matches Shutter Speeds with f-stops.

In this photo, f/16 matches 1/30 sec and f/4 matches 1/500 sec. Every
matched pair of aperture (f-stop) and shutter speed produces the same
exposure.

The ExpoDisc mentioned earlier functions like an Incident-Light Meter and

cost considerably less — about $50 on Amazon.com.
Back to the Exposure Zones
The Zone System relies on the photographer’s ability to distinguish values
that a meter cannot, such as a snow storm or a black horse.
Adams and Archer created a system of 11 Zones denoted by Roman
Numerals — Figure 5. Each Zone is one stop different from its adjacent
Zone — i.e., Zone IV is twice as bright as Zone III and Zone V is twice as
bright as Zone IV. Zone 0 is pure black and Zone X is pure white. To use the
system effectively, the photographer must identify the most important
elements of the image and adjust the exposure based on the nature and
reflectivity of those elements.

For example, if the principle object of the image falls in Zone III, the
exposure must be decreased by 2 stops so that the camera treats Zone III as
if it were Zone V and does not overexpose the image.
Ansel Adams described the Zones as indicated in Figure 6.
To learn more about the Zone System, go to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_System
Quantifying the Zones
Let’s take the Zone System to the next level by estimating how much of a
given image falls within a particular zone. For a hypothetical black and
white image let us imagine that the % of the image that falls into each zone
is:

Zone 0 13% Zone 1 8% Zone II 7% Zone III

6% Zone IV 12% Zone V 15% Zone VI
16% Zone VII 10% Zone VIII 7% Zone IX 5%
Zone X 1%

If we create a bar chart based on this data, we get the chart in Figure 7.
 By definition, a Histogram is a graphical
representation of the distribution of numerical data.
The chart in Figure 7 is a histogram based on the Zone System and a
specific image. It graphically displays the percentage of the image that falls
into each Zone.
In Chapter Three, we will be discussing Photographic Histograms. These
are the histograms that are displayed on the LCDs of digital cameras and in
photo editing software such as Photoshop.

Photographic Histograms are a specialized subset of

histograms with their own set of rules.
Photographic Histograms are always composed of 256 bars (analogous to
exposure zones).
There are four types of Photographic Histograms that we will be
discussing.
· Luminosity
· RGB
· Colors
· Color Channel
As we will learn in Chapter Two, colors are also defined in 256 increments
in digital photography.
 Chapter Two
Defining and Using Colors in
Photography and Histograms
Overview
The information in this chapter is not critical to understanding the use of the
Luminosity Histogram used to set exposure in digital cameras. On the other
hand, it is very relevant to understanding the RGB, Color Channel and
Colors histograms used in Photo Editing.
The topic of Color goes far beyond our needs in this book, so I will only be
talking about aspects of colors that are important to photography and
understanding Photographic Histograms.
It is still important to understand that colors can be defined by many
systems. For example, we could define every color by the wavelength or
frequency of light that it projects. More commonly, colors are defined by
the use of blending Primary Colors. There are also other conventions for
specifying a particular color.
Colors also affect our emotions. Even though this knowledge might be
helpful to an artist in creating a mood with an image, it is beyond the scope
of this book.
A problem with colors is that we all have different levels of color
perception. Some type of color blindness is fairly common in men and less
common among women. Our color perception is also affected by
surrounding colors in an image. For this reason, we need a system that
accurately and consistently identifies specific colors.
All in all, this topic is so complex that we will only be scratching the surface
in order to understand how to specify and use colors in photography and
more specifically Photographic Histograms.
You don’t need to understand this material in order to use histograms for
proper exposure, but it will help you to understand how histograms are
constructed.
The Science of Colors
If you are averse to technical discussions, please bear with me through this
brief topic because it will save you from many confusing moments when
discussing colors.
The problem is that Colored Lights act differently from Colored
Pigments and Dyes. See Figure 8 below.
The explanation is actually rather simple and just requires our understanding
of what happens when light strikes an object.
—O—
White Light is the combination of all light frequencies.
There are also a number of Pure Colors (also called Spectral Colors)
such as Red, Green, and Blue that have a single frequency or wavelength.
The range of frequencies listed below for each color represent the entire
range of frequencies that we would identify as that color. A Red, Green, or
Blue Light would only have one frequency within the accepted range.
All other colors of light are created by combining Pure Colors. When
Colored Lights are combined to create other colors, they are referred to as
Additive Colors.
—O—
When white light strikes an object, one of three things can happen. It can be
reflected, scattered, or absorbed. It most cases all three things happen.
The reflected light determines our perception of the color of the
object.
For example, blue paint absorbs all light waves that strike it except for blue
which is reflected. The sheen of paint — flat, satin, semi-gloss, gloss, etc.
— is determined by how much light is scattered.
If we add another color of paint to the blue paint, that other color will absorb
more of the light striking our new paint mixture. The result is less reflected
light. For this reason colors created by combining paints, dyes, or pigment
are called Subtractive Colors.

The combination of all pigments, paints, or dyes is black.

Additive Colors: — TVs, Monitors, Camera LCDs
Subtractive Colors: — Printers, Paints

—O—
How we perceive colors can also be affected by the ambient light. Objects
can appear to change color when they are in shade or the light source is not
full-spectrum white light. This is why digital cameras use White Balance to
correct for light sources such as florescent or incandescent as well as shade
or colored light.
Also, objects can transmit light. All or a portion of the light striking the
object can pass through it.
To summarize, the color of an object is determined by many factors. This
topic is beyond the scope of this book, but you should be aware of things
that affect color perception.
Defining Colors
Most people are familiar with the term Primary Colors. Unfortunately, most
people think that there is only one set of primary colors. This is not true.
In the evolution of film photography, there were numerous sets of primary
colors used. Many of these colors are unknown to most people and no
longer used for any purpose.
By definition, any set of three colors that can be combined to create all the
other colors are Primary Colors. In discussing histograms, we will be
using the Red, Green, and Blue set of primary colors.
—O—
As I mentioned earlier in this chapter, there are numerous ways to identify or
specify a color. Photoshop includes five of these color systems in its Color
Picker Panel shown in Figure 9.
Let’s start with the three numbers circled in yellow. This is the RGB system
of color identification.
This is the system that we will be using in our discussion of
histograms.
The other four systems will be discussed very briefly so that you know that
they exist.
—O—
The three numbers circled in Blue (Figure 9) are the HSB system. The
letters stand for Hue, Saturation, and Brightness. For every color defined
by the RGB system there are corresponding HSB numbers. Sometimes the
word Luminosity is used instead of Brightness. In this case, the system is
referred to as the HSL system. They are one-and-the-same.
 —O—
The three numbers circled in Red are the Lab system. This is the most
complex of the systems and is used in creating extreme high quality prints.
In this system L stands for Lightness, and a and b are modifiers. A
negative value for a is a shade of green. A positive value for a is a shade
of red. A negative value for b is a shade of blue and a positive value for b
is a shade of yellow.
—O—
Many photo printers use individual color cartridges instead of the single
color cartridge that is commonly used in printers designed for applications
such as books, reports, color flyers, and graphs. These photo printers
typically use cartridges that are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. This
system is circled in Black. This is the CMYK system.
—O—
Directly below the RGB system numbers, is a six digit code highlighted in
Blue. This is the Hexadecimal system used in writing code for webpages
(Html). The first two digits or letters define a value of Red. The next two
define the Green value and the last two define the Blue value.
—O—
A histogram that is based on one Primary Color is called a Color Channel
Histogram. Since we are using the RGB system of primary colors, we
have three color channel histograms — Red, Green, and Blue.
For the Red Histogram, pure Red is at the far left — bar 0 — and white is
on the extreme right — bar 255. The other 254 bars make a gradual
transition from Pure Red to Pure White. The same is true for the Green and
Blue Histograms.
—O—
The color of every pixel in a digital image can be recorded as shades of Red,
Green, and Blue. For each of these colors, a scale of Zero to 255 is used.
R80, G54, B220, describes a specific color which is a combination of a
shade of Red that is bar 80 on the Red Histogram, a shade of Green that is
bar 54 on the Green Histogram, and a shade of Blue that is bar 220 on the
Blue Histogram. One pixel of this exact color will add one data point to
each of these bars on their respective Histograms. Thus, one pixel can
create up to three data points depending on the color of the pixel.
The RGB Histogram combines the data from all the pixels in the image to
determine how many data points are recorded for all three Color
Histograms. This data is displayed as shades of gray. For example, the
tonal value of bar 122 on the RGB Histogram is R122, G122, B122.
The upper left corner of Figure 10 shows the Photoshop Color Picker
Panel that I used to create the color of the swatch below it. For every pixel
in this swatch, a pixel of color is created on each Color Channel
Histogram. We see one vertical bar in each color channel histogram and
three vertical bars in the RGB Histogram at the top right of the image. All
the bars are the same height because they are all based on the same number
of pixels.
Notice that there is a dark vertical line on the far right of each histogram.
This line represents Pure White and is the result of the white border around
the blue swatch. There are more white pixels than any other color in this
example, so it is the highest bar and sets the scale for each histogram.
—O—
Figure 11 shows the result of adding a Red border to the image in Figure
10. We now have more vertical lines and white is no longer the dominant
color. The RGB histogram, at the top right, combines the data of the three
Color Channel Histograms.
We can continue this process by adding more swatches of differing colors
and vertical lines of data will be added to all the histograms.
Color Space & Gamut
A topic related to primary colors and important to photographers is Color
Space. The purpose of a color space is to define and measure the
performance of cameras, monitors, and printers.
In its simplest form, a Color Space is an agreed-upon range of possible
colors that relates to the design and performance of digital imaging
devices.
In more technical terms, a color space is a specified (standardized) range of
color variations based on a particular set of primary colors. The entire range
is called the GAMUT. In digital photography there are three important
Color Spaces that you need to know about. They are sRGB, Adobe RGB (or
RGB 98), and ProPhotoRGB. All three systems are based on combinations of
the primary colors Red, Green, and Blue.
—O—
The color space sRGB has the smallest gamut or range of color variation.
It was originally developed for low-end digital cameras and printers. Why
create a camera that can sense more color variations than a low-cost printer
can produce? Likewise, why make a printer that can print every possible
color variation and that almost no one can afford? This Color
Space standard became the defining factor for the capabilities of low-cost
digital cameras and printers. Cameras are designed to capture all the colors
that fall within this gamut, but no more. Likewise printers designed to this
standard can only print colors that are contained within this gamut. This is
also the standard for the internet, thus no webpage can display more than
this range of colors. With few exceptions, this is also the color space for
computer monitors.

—O—

Adobe RGB was introduced in 1998 for high-end commercial printing

presses. It contains the sRGB gamut, but goes far beyond it to include
colors that are more subtle in their variation. At one time, only the very best
cameras and printers could capture and display the Adobe RGB gamut, but
by 2012 even moderately priced cameras and printers were covering this
gamut. Monitors that can display most of this gamut (typically more than
97%) are significantly more expensive than standard monitors and can cost
thousands of dollars. I am not aware of any monitor that can display the
entire gamut. Most photo printers sold in retail markets, however, can print
this entire gamut.

—O—

There is now a trend among some professionals to use the newer and larger
gamut of the color space ProPhotoRGB. This new standard is based on
the assumption that sometime in the future, technology will allow us to
display and print even more color and tone variations than we can now.
Currently only high-end cameras can be set to capture all the colors of the
ProPhotoRGB color space. To the best of my knowledge, there are no
monitors or printers that can cover this gamut – not even commercial
printers that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is estimated that 13%
of this gamut is imaginary colors that don’t actually exist. Professional
photographers who use this color space hope that someday they will be able
to reprocess their digital negatives with advanced software and create images
of color depth and detail that are not currently possible. Many professionals
don’t see the value in a color space that can’t be reproduced on a monitor or
printer. How can you work with something so obscure? Why not do the
best you can with the tools at hand until new technology is available?
Personally, I think that this is a valid argument. I use the Adobe RGB color
space.

—O—
If you haven’t already done it, you should set your camera’s Color Space. I
would recommend Adobe RGB (also called RGB 98 on some cameras).
Summary
As we previously discussed, colors can be defined by combining shades of
Red, Green, and Blue. For each of these primary colors, we have 256 shades
defined by the Color Channel Histograms. With three primary colors and
256 choices for each, we have over 16,000,000 possible color combinations.
Since the human eye can only perceive 12 million colors, we have more than
enough combinations to cover every color that we can perceive.
Note: With Histograms, 0 is Black or a
Pure Color, and 255 is White. By
definition, Black is the absence of color
and white is the combination of all colors
when adding lights.

The opposite is true when adding pigments

— paints.

In Color Spaces, White is 0, and Black

and Pure Colors are 255 — just the
opposite of how they are defined for
Histograms. The reason for this
difference is that Color Spaces were
developed from adding colored pigments
in printing applications.
 Chapter Three
Developing and Defining Photographic
Histograms
Overview
In this chapter, we will be examining many aspects of histograms.
We will start by creating a series of simple black and white patterns and
observing their histograms.
· The primary purpose of this exercise is to reinforce the fact that
there is no relationship between the location of tonal data in an image
and where it appears in the histogram.
 · The secondary purpose of this section is to reinforce the fact that
histograms can be as simple as a series of vertical lines.
We then move on to the four types of histograms that are used in digital
photography and how they differ.
After defining a number of important terms related to histograms, we will
dissect histograms and establish some general guidelines for using
histograms effectively.
Photographic Histograms
In Digital Photography, the histogram is composed of 256 bars that are
analogous to Exposure Zones. With so many “zones” side by side, the
histogram often looks like a continuous curve. This is not always the case.
A histogram can be as simple as a single vertical line.
We will be discussing the histogram as it is displayed on the LCD of your
DSLR camera as well as how it appears in post processing programs like
Photoshop.
Even though your objective may be to fine-tune exposure settings and
capture better images by use of the camera’s histogram, photo editing is as
much a part of digital photography as the darkroom is part of the process of
film photography.
With this in mind, Photoshop can be a very helpful tool in understanding
histograms. Let’s take a look at a few simple black & white patterns created
in Photoshop and the histograms that they produce.
—O—
The image above is called a gradient. It is a gradual transition from black
on the left to white on the right.
The histogram for the image in Figure 12 is shown in Figure 13. Pure
black and pure white are the prevalent shades in the image and so the height
of individual bars taper off from both sides. The mid tones are
approximately half the height of the extremes.
Notice that many of the 256 vertical bars making up the Histogram are
visible in Figure 13 — it is not just a smooth curve.

Let’s look at a few more examples.

In the first image of Figure 14, the gradient extends from the top left corner
to the bottom right corner. In the second image, the gradient extends from
the bottom right corner to the top left corner. The histograms — shown to
the right of each gradient — are identical.
The histogram doesn’t care where the Zone data appears in the image.
We will explore this in more detail in the pages that follow.
In Figure 15 two opposite gradients are stacked one on top of the other.
They do not cancel out each other but add together to create a histogram that
is virtually identical to the histogram for the top gradient by itself — Figure
16.

In Figure 17, I add a broad band of pure black down the center of the image,
there is a dip in the mid-tones of the histogram because they are partially
obscured by the black band. Pixels that were mid-tones have been replaced
by pure black.
There is also a single line added to the far left of the histogram. This line
represents pure black which we just increased dramatically. Since the value
of this one “Zone” is so much greater than any other value, it changes the
scale for the histogram. This is why the main portion of the histogram
seems like it has been flattened somewhat.

When I then add a band of white down the middle of the band of black
(Figure 18), I get a single vertical line on the far right of the
histogram representing pure white. It is shorter than the line representing
pure black because the white band in the image is narrower than the black
band and therefore adds fewer pixels to the image than the black band.
256 Shades of Gray
The RGB Histogram is composed of 256 bars that are shades of gray.
For the next image, I created an array of nine shades of gray ranging from
Pure Black to Pure White.
When red, green, and blue are combined in equal tonal values (luminosity),
the result is gray. Thus, all bars of the RGB histogram represent shades of
gray.
The shades of gray used in Figure 19 are defined in the following table:

Shade of Gray Red Green Blue

1 Pure Black 0 0 0

RGB 32 32 32 32

RGB 64 64 64 64

RGB 96 96 96 96

RGB 128 128 128 128

RGB 160 160 160 160

RGB 192 192 192 192

RGB 224 224 224 224

9 Pure White 255 255 255

The array and its four histograms are shown in Figure 19 — RGB, Red,
Green, Blue. Since each swatch of gray is the exact same size, there are the
same number of data points for each shade of gray and all vertical lines will
be the same height. Since there is nothing else in the image, the histogram
only records a vertical bar at each value in the array. The histogram is
shown to the right of the array — the gray value for each bar was added to
the histogram and image for informational purposes. These values are on a
text layer and were not part of the original image or histogram.
The position and shape of the swatches have no effect on the Histogram.
The Histogram only records the quantity of data points for each shade of
gray.
By modifying the swatches with different shades of gray, I created the
Histogram in the Figure 20. In this image, the vertical lines vary in height,
because the total area for each shade of gray varied. I have placed my cursor
on the tallest vertical line. My cursor is highlighted in yellow. I have also
drawn a yellow box around some of the data associated with this bar of the
Histogram. It tells us that the dominate shade of gray is bar 112 and that
there are 278,400 data points in the image that are that exact shade of gray.
We can, likewise, analyze any other bar in the Histogram.
Understanding Histograms can improve results behind the camera as well as
in post-processing.
When setting up your shot, a histogram can help to assure the desired result
even when the image on the camera’s LCD appears to be over or under
exposed.
In post processing, many of the adjustments in Photoshop work by altering
the photographic histogram for the image.
Types of Histograms
Let’s take a look at some histograms for the following image — Figure 21.
This image was taken in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. It is the back side
of Coffee Pot Rock. I chose this image because of the overall red in the
rocks and ground, the blue of the clear sky, and the green of the trees and
bushes.

All DSLR cameras and many less expensive digital cameras have the
capability of displaying histograms on their LCD screens. In most cases, the
histogram will be shown to the side of the image when you review your shot
in the camera.
Because of the large selection of digital cameras and a lack of uniformity
with respect to displaying histograms, I will not attempt to tell you how to
access this function on your own camera. So please consult your manual.
If you don’t like your manual or have lost it, I would recommend spending a
few dollars for a book by David Busch. At this point in time, Busch has
written 1273 camera guide books that are manuals for specific camera
models. The odds are that you will find a book on your specific camera
model. They are far better than the manuals that come with the camera and
well worth the investment. Most of his books range from $20 to $30 in
Kindle and paperback versions.
—O—
Rather than show you an image of the LCD screen on a camera displaying a
histogram, I will be using Photoshop to illustrate the different types of
histograms. I believe that this approach will make the differences more
apparent.
The image below on the left (Figure 22) is the Luminosity Histogram for
the image of the Red Rocks (Figure 21). This is the histogram that appears
on the LCD of digital cameras and is used to fine-tune exposure settings.
Most cameras can also display the Red, Green, and Blue channel
histograms. You will generally be given a choice of the Luminosity
Histogram or the Luminosity Histogram with Color Channel
Histograms as shown in the illustration.
The image below on the right (Figure 23) is the RGB Histogram that is
normally used in Photoshop during the editing process. It combines the
values for the three color channels into a single Histogram.
Note that each Color Channel Histogram is identical in the two images —
Figures 22 and 23. The difference is what is being displayed in the top
histogram — the composite histogram — Luminosity or RGB.
—O—
As we mentioned before, the light meter built into your camera measures
Reflectance — the amount of light reflected by the objects in the image.
The Luminosity Histogram graphically represents this information for each
of its 256 bars. The fact that the majority of the data is in the midrange
suggests that the image is properly exposed. There are times when an image
is purposely biased toward the right or left side of the histogram. This is
usually done for artistic purposes and to add drama to the image. We will
talk more about this later in the book.
The Luminosity Histogram is very different from the RGB Histogram and
is actually created with calculated values. We will talk more about this later
in the book.
There is no such thing as a perfect or ideal histogram.
The histogram exists for the purpose of giving the photographer some very
valuable data. That data can then be used by the photographer to create the
mood and impact that she desires.
—O—
Note that the Color Channel Histograms are quite different from each
other. The Red is the brightest part of the image and the Blue is the darkest.
The Green is generally mid-tones. The spikes of Blue on the right side of
the Blue Channel Histogram are from the lighter blue sky surrounding the
tall red rocks.
The RGB Histogram on the right combines all the data from the three color
channels to create a single histogram. The RGB Histogram can be very
useful in post processing in a program like Photoshop. Most adjustment
layers in Photoshop work by altering this histogram, so it is a valuable tool
to be able to watch it change as you edit your image.
The Colors option in Photoshop displays the three Color Channel
Histograms (Figure 24) in colors in one image so that you can see which
color is contributing to each feature of the histogram. The shape of this
histogram often looks like the RGB Histogram, but not always. The height
of each Color Channel Histogram is determined by the highest bar in that
particular color channel histogram. This can be misleading when the three
histograms are combined to form the Colors Histogram.
With this option, the gray area is the overlap of all three Color Channel
Histograms. The Blue indicates an area that is totally blue. The same is true
for Red and Green. Where Red and Green overlap Yellow is displayed.
Where Red and Blue overlap Magenta is displayed. Where Blue and Green
overlap Cyan is displayed.
Some Definitions
Before going any further in our discussion, it might be helpful to take a
moment and define a few terms.
The words Luminance and Luminosity are often used interchangeably but
actually have different meanings.
Luminance refers to the quantity of light that is reflected by an object.
Luminosity refers to the Perceived Brightness of an object. It takes into
account the fact that the human eye is much more sensitive to green light
than red and blue light. In fact, the accepted brightness factors for these
three primary colors are:
Green 59% Red 30% Blue 11%
The Luminosity Histogram is the result of a lot of complex calculations.
The purpose is to approximate how the human eye will perceive the image.
Without getting into the details, to the best of my knowledge, the general
outline of the process follows these steps:
· The scene is recorded as a jpeg image.
· The pixels of the jpeg image are used to create the Red, Green, and
Blue Histograms.
· Each Color Channel Histogram is analyzed to determine its
brightness if it were shown as a grayscale image.
· A Luminosity Histogram is created for each Color Channel
Histogram.
· The three Color Channel Luminosity Histograms are added
together to produce the final Luminosity Histogram displayed on the
camera’s LCD screen. The Green Histogram is given a greater
“weighting” value as indicated earlier in this discussion.
This explanation is an oversimplification of the process, but is intended to
give you an idea of what it takes to create the Luminosity Histogram.
—O—
Clipping is a process that discards some of the data available. A dog
whistle creates a sound that dogs can hear but humans cannot. The sound
exists but it has a frequency that exceeds the capability of human hearing.
This is a naturally occurring example of Clipping.
In Digital Photography, we are talking about image data that is beyond the
camera’s ability to record or that we choose to discard.
The evidence of Clipping is when the histogram bunches up against the right
or left side of the range.

A jpeg image is an example of conscious clipping. A large portion of the

image data is discarded to produce a smaller file. The discarded information
is chosen by an algorithm. The end result is an image that is virtually
indistinguishable from the original image that was based on more image
data. This is because our sight has limits just as our hearing does.
So, it is important to remember that the Luminosity Histogram is based on a
series of complex calculations applied to a portion of the image data
available.
If you have a DSLR camera, you should be capturing your images in the
RAW format. I just want you to know that the Luminosity Histogram is not
based on all the image data, but rather on the jpeg version of the image. In
most cases, this won’t matter. We will talk about this again later in our
discussion.
When we talk about Clipping in a Histogram, we are talking about
discarding some image data on the extreme right or left of the histogram.
There are two reasons for this type of clipping — Dynamic Range and
Exposure.
 —O—
Let’s talk about Dynamic Range first. As we discussed earlier in this
book, Digital Cameras have a limited range of tones that they can record.
They typically only record 7 of the 11 Zones that Exposure Zones define.
The photographer must make a conscious decision as to which zones she
wishes to discard. If the image is very bright, it is called a High
Key image and it is easy to discard the darker tones. Likewise, if the image
is very dark it is called a Low Key image and any bright spots can be
discarded without ill effects.

—O—
When the photographer wants to capture all or most of the image data that
covers more than 7 Zones, a technique called High Dynamic Range is often
used. The resulting image is commonly referred to as an HDR image.
To create an HDR image, a tripod is required. After setting up the tripod,
focusing, and framing the image, the exposure is set to capture the best
image possible in a single shot. The exposure is then bracketed by a stop
value. This value is then applied to either side of the original exposure
setting.
For example, if the bracket value is 1 stop, the exposure will be adjusted for
1 stop brighter and one stop darker. A DSLR camera with this capability
will then take three shots in rapid succession at these three different
exposure settings. The shutter release is only pushed once. Some Nikon
Cameras have the capability of taking up to 7 bracketed images in rapid
succession.
The images are then combined into a single image by Photoshop or a similar
post processing program.
This technique is frequently used in landscape photography when there is
bright sunlight and interesting details in the shadows of the foreground.
Some newer cameras create the HDR image in-camera, thus eliminating the
need for post-processing.
—O—
The other type of Clipping that applies to Histograms, is Highlight and
Shadow Clipping.
Highlight Clipping occurs at the extreme right side of the Histogram and
indicates that some of image data that is extremely bright — pure white —
will be lost. This often happens with clouds or snow in a landscape image.
Shadow Clipping occurs at the extreme left side of the Histogram and
indicates that some of the shadow details will be lost.
In general, it is better to have Shadow Clipping than Highlight Clipping.
With Highlight Clipping all of the image details are lost and the condition is
called Blow Out. Imagine the blinding glare of snow in bright sunlight. It
is impossible to see any details of the landscape without dark sunglasses or
goggles. This is an example of Blow Out.
With Shadow Clipping, image details can often be retrieved with post
processing programs like Photoshop.
Clipping is evident in a histogram if it bunches up against the right or left
edge. We will look at some examples later in our discussion.
Dissecting Histograms
When I first started working with Photoshop I created the image in Figure
28 just to practice changing colors in an image. It was a challenge to create
an image that was almost believable. I chose this image because its
histograms offer some interesting lessons. The three histograms to the right
of the image are from top to bottom — Luminosity, RGB, Colors.

Notice that the shape of the Luminosity Histogram is nothing like the RGB
Histogram. Remember that the Luminosity Histogram is calculated from
the data in the Color Channel Histograms whereas the RGB Histogram is
the actual sum of the three Color Channel Histograms.
In the Luminosity Histogram, we see that the image is not clipped in the
shadows or highlights. This is most of the battle. The exposure has not lost
any of the details but is biased toward the shadows. We only have to decide
if we would like this image to be brighter. In this case, I decided to leave the
exposure where it was. Brightening the image washed out some of the more
interesting features.
The RGB Histogram tells a different story. If we look closely at the far right
edge, we can see that a little clipping is occurring in the highlights, but it is
so insignificant that we really don’t need to worry about it. On the other
hand, we can see a good bit of Shadow Clipping on the left. This would
suggest an increase in exposure but that would result in more Highlight
Clipping. It is probably best to just accept that some detail has been lost in
the shadows.

The Colors Histogram (Figure 29)

gives us some additional information. We can see that the Highlight
Clipping occurs in the Red Histogram and the Shadow Clipping occurs
primarily in the Blue Histogram with some additional clipping in the Green
Histogram.
This additional information makes it easier to decide if we need to make
adjustments to recover the clipped image details.
 There is a lot of additional data that we can gather in
Photoshop and other post processing programs. Figure 30 shows the RGB
Histogram and the three Color Channel Histograms that were added
together to create it.
Why isn’t there a bulge in the RGB Histogram corresponding to the peak of
the Red Histogram? Let’s take a closer look. The blue vertical line shows
where it should be.
To solve this mystery, we need to understand more about how histograms
are displayed. When we look at Figure 30, it appears that the Red
Histogram dominates the image.
In Photoshop we have many analytical tools that are not available in our
cameras. One such tool is the ability to determine the actual number of data
points in each bar of the histogram.
At the top of the Histogram Panel in Photoshop, there is a drop-down menu
listing all the Histogram options available.
By choosing each Color Channel Histogram and using the mouse as a
pointer, we can move our cursor to any bar in the histogram and read the
actual value of the height of that particular bar.
—O—
As an example, let’s analyze a single bar of each Color Histogram. I have
chosen Bar 70 for this example. This is just a random selection.

The details of the four histograms are shown

analyzing bar 70 in Figure 31. The pertinent information is circled in
yellow.
The white arrow in the Red Histogram shows the location of bar 70.
From our analysis, we have learned that bar 70 is 892 pixels high on the Red
Histogram, 1779 pixels high on the Green Histogram, and 1662 pixels high
on the Blue Histogram. If we do a little addition, we get
892 + 1779 + 1662 = 4333
This is the same value that we see for bar 70 on the RGB Histogram.
—O—
If we go through a similar process, we will discover that the highest bar of
the Red Histogram is 1616. The highest bar of the Green Histogram is
6741. The highest bar of the Blue Histogram is 17,892. These numbers are
shown to the left of the histograms in Figure 31.
This tells us that the three histograms are displayed at different scales and
that the Red Histogram makes a very small contribution to the RGB
Histogram while the Blue Histogram dominates the image.
—O—
If we take another look at Figure 29, we can see that the Colors Histogram
is displayed in a normalized scale based on percentage rather than
absolute value. This is why the Colors Histogram looks significantly
different from the RGB Histogram. With most images the difference in
scale is not as dramatic and the RGB and Colors Histograms have a very
similar appearance. The dramatic variation in scale is why I chose this
image as an example.
A Brief Review
Histograms are unique to Digital Photography and can be intimidating even
for experienced Film Photographers.
For this reason, I am going to be a bit redundant at times. The more ways
that we look at histograms, the more useful they will become. So please
forgive the redundancy — it does have a purpose.

A histogram is a graphical representation — normally a bar chart —of how

data is distributed in a particular situation. The infamous Bell Curve,
sometime used in grading students, is an example of a histogram. Calculus
is a type of advanced math that is based on calculating the average values of
histograms.
In Black & White Photography, the distribution of data represented by the
Histogram, is Tonal Values — shades of gray. With color images, a more
accurate term than Tonal Values would be Relative Brightness or
Luminosity.
The Histogram displayed on the LCD Screen of digital cameras is often
referred to as a Luminosity Histogram.
The sensors in digital cameras are more sensitive to green light than red or
blue. This is because the human eye is twice as sensitive to green as it is to
the other two primary colors.
Many digital cameras have the capability of displaying the histograms for
Red, Green, and Blue as well as the Luminosity Histogram. These color
histograms are referred to as Color Channel Histograms.
In Photography, Histograms are always displayed as 256 bars. Each bar
represents how many pixels in an image have that exact tonal value or
luminosity. Because of the number of bars, a photographic histogram often
looks like a smooth curve rather than a bar chart.
The color of every pixel in a digital image can be recorded as shades of Red,
Green, and Blue. For each of these colors, a scale of Zero to 255 is used.
R122, G142, B168, describes a specific color which is a combination of a
shade of Red that is bar 122 on the Red Histogram, a shade of Green that is
bar 142 on the Green Histogram, and a shade of Blue that is bar 168 on the
Blue Histogram. One pixel of this exact color will add one data point to
each of these bars on their respective Histograms. For the Red Histogram,
pure Red is at the far left — bar 0 — and white is on the extreme right —
bar 255. The other 254 bars make a gradual transition from Pure Red to
Pure White. The same is true for the Green and Blue Histograms.
With 256 possible variations for each of the three primary colors there are
over 16 million possible combinations producing over 16 million identifiable
colors. The human eye can only detect about 12 million of these colors.
The RGB Histogram combines the data from all the pixels in the image to
determine how many data points are recorded for each bar of the histogram.
When the RGB Histogram is displayed in Colors, this data is displayed as
shades of gray where red, green, and blue overlap and with red, green, and
blue projecting above the gray area when they do not overlap.
When we say that an image has been Clipped, we mean that some of the
image data was not recorded because it is beyond the Dynamic Range of the
camera.
The Dynamic Range of a camera is basically the limit of its ability to record
image data. In recent years, the Dynamic Range has been greatly improved
in digital cameras.
Digital photography only uses seven of the eleven zones of the Zone
System. The other four zones are ignored or Clipped. In order to cover the
entire range of Zones, multiple images can be taken at different exposures
and combined into one image. This technique is referred to as HDR or High
Dynamic Range. Most DSLR cameras have the capability of taking 3 to 7
shots at differing exposures in rapid succession for this very purpose. A
tripod is mandatory in this case so that the images can be combined into a
single image.
Some newer cameras now have the capability of capturing more than 7
Zones in a single exposure. In many cases, this eliminates the need for HDR
images and the post processing involved.
For digital photography, the histogram should taper off on the right side as
shown in Figure 32. This means that the highlights have not been clipped
and that all the highlight detail is available for editing. The height of the
curve on the left in this histogram indicates that none of the shadow details
have been clipped. This is good, but not as important as knowing the
highlights have not been clipped.
Clipped highlight details cannot be recovered by editing software. Clipped
shadow details, on the other hand, can often be recovered with editing
software.
When highlights are clipped, all that remains is pure white without any
details or texture.
When shadows are clipped, we can often show hidden details and texture by
brightening the image in a post processing program like Photoshop.
With digital photography, there is no ideal histogram but you should avoid
clipping of shadows and highlights, with the avoidance of highlight clipping
being the most important.
 Chapter Four
Applying Histograms
Overview
In this chapter, we will cover some very practical uses of histograms as well
as how to shift the histogram and adjust exposure settings.
We will then move on to evaluating a number of photos and their
histograms. This will give you some experience with reading histograms
and ultimately increase your confidence in using them effectively.
Histograms and Exposure
Figure 33 illustrates the relationship between the Luminosity Histogram,
your camera’s Exposure Compensation, and the Zone System of exposure
developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer.
The far left edge of the Histogram represents pure black. The far right
represents pure white. The height of the curve at any point represents how
much of the image data is represented by that particular frequency or color.

To shift the histogram right or left, use Exposure Compensation or F-Stops.

Post Processing Histograms
Many of the adjustments in Photoshop work by altering the photographic
histogram for the image.
In Photography, the distribution of data represented by the Histogram is
Tonal Values — shades of gray. With color images, a more accurate term
than Tonal Values would be Relative Brightness or Luminosity.
The Histogram displayed on the LCD Screen of digital cameras is often
referred to as a Luminosity Histogram.
Many digital cameras have the capability of displaying the histograms for
Red, Green, and Blue as well as the Luminosity Histogram. These color
histograms are referred to as Color Channel Histograms.
The following image ( Figure 35) is a color image with its Histogram to the
right of the image. Note that the Color Channel Histograms are quite
different from each other. Also note that the Green Histogram is the closest
in shape to the RGB Histogram. This relationship is true for most images
because our eyes are far more sensitive to green than they are to red or blue.
Shooting to the Right

Figure 36 is a close-up photo of the rock wall of a canyon in West Fork, just
north of Sedona, Arizona. This part of the canyon is always in the shade,
which is an ideal condition for creating images with extensive color
saturation. The small image in the lower right corner is the histogram for
this image. As you can see, it bunches up on the right side but is not actually
touching the extreme right vertical line. This is the optimum condition for
maximum detail.

The image, as shot, appears to be over-exposed but it can be enhanced

through photo editing software to bring out details. If the
histogram bunched up along the right vertical edge, we would see an even
brighter image but the image data would be totally lost in the white light.
Areas where there is no image data to retrieve is called Blow Out. In this
case I stopped just short of a Blow Out condition.

In less than 2 minutes of photo editing, I had the image in Figure 37. The
color variations are beginning to stand out but it does not accurately display
the texture of the rock wall, which was my primary objective.
After extensive editing, I had the image in Figure 38 which shows both
texture and color. Note the change in the histogram for each image.
Histogram Examples
Let’s take a look at a few photos and their histograms.

Take a minute or two to analyze each image and its histograms before
reading my comments. This should enhance your learning.

I also want to do something a little different and tell you the background
information for each shot so that you understand the artistic as well as
technical intent for each of these images.

The scene in Figure 40 was taken seconds before the light faded. I saw this
golden storm and drove toward it for twenty minutes before finding a hill top
where I could capture the moment. I was only able to get three quick photos
before the light faded.
As you can see, there is a bit of clipping in the shadows as well as the
highlights. This would have been a situation for an HDR image, but there
wasn’t time to set up the shot.
All things considered, this turned out pretty well. The highlight clipping is
relatively insignificant. There are a lot of details in the clouds and only one
small area of pure white. The shadow clipping is mostly confined to the
mountains in the distance and doesn’t detract from the image.
Note that the shadow clipping is most prevalent in the Blue Histogram.
Also, remember that our eyes are least sensitive to blue and that it has a very
small impact on the overall image brightness.
Figure 41 — Tree with a View — demonstrates the difficulty of capturing
landscape images in bright sunlight.
All four histograms show that there was no shadow clipping or highlight
clipping, but from the image we can see that there are not enough details in
the clouds and portions of the rock formations are very dark, concealing
some of the details.
Earlier in the book, I suggested that anyone with a DSLR camera should be
shooting in the RAW format. These histograms are evaluating a jpeg
image. This means that a lot of the image data was discarded before the
image was even saved to disk.
In the RAW format, we might actually see some clipping that is not apparent
in the histograms for this image. Unfortunately, this image was created
before I learned about the advantages of shooting in RAW.
This is also another situation that would be improved by an HDR image.
The examples of Figure 40 and Figure 41 make the point that the
histograms don’t tell the entire story. In Figure 40, we saw clipping but the
image is fine. In Figure 41, there was no clipping but there are things that
could have been done to create a better image.
I was fascinated by the wood grain and texture of the wood in this old
Conestoga wagon. Because I wanted to bring attention to the details, I
limited my shot to a small portion of the wagon. In post-processing, I
eliminated the distracting background and replaced it with black. This shot
was also taken in bright sunlight. The brightly lit canvas in the upper right
corner of the image suggests just how bright the sunlight was at the time. In
fact, I toned this down quite a bit in the post-processing stage.
From the Luminance Histogram, we can see that we appear to have
clipping at both ends of the histogram. What looks like shadow clipping is
actually due to the added black background. The original image was not
clipped in the shadows. Any time we add a background to an image, we
should expect some change in the histogram.
The highlight clipping is due to the bright canvas in the upper right corner.
When we look at an image, our eyes go directly to the brightest spot in the
image, so this can be distracting. In this case, I felt that the light added
reality to the image and helped the viewer understand why the side of the
wagon is brighter than the rear. We have a clear clue as to the direction of
the sun in this shot. Often when we look at an image, we feel that something
is not quite right even if we can’t identify what is bothering us. I felt that
cropping out or toning down this small bit of highlight clipping in the image
of Figure 42 would have changed the feel of the image. This is totally an
artistic judgment and cannot be made by the camera or reading the
histogram.
The rock formation in Figure 43 is visible from one of my favorite trails in
Sedona — the Faye Canyon Trail. It reminds me of the wooden mallets that
wood carvers use to tap their chisels. I also love the contrast between the
deep blue sky and the red rocks.
There is no evidence of clipping in any of the four histograms for this
image, but there is a clear bias toward the shadows. The majority of the
image data is on the left side of the histograms.
The tree branches on the right are very dark and much of the detail is lost in
the shadows, but this is not the main object of the image. It actually pushes
our eye toward the rock formation that is the main object in this image.
Everything in the image frames the rock formation.
There is enough detail visible in the mallet-like rock formation to make it
interesting. Lightening the image (shifting the histogram toward the mid-
tones) would wash out the deep blue sky.
This is an example of why a histogram doesn’t need to be evenly distributed
across its entire range. Histograms are a tool to help improve exposure, but
should never be considered an absolute defining force. The eye of the
photographer is the ultimate judge of the value of an image.
Cathedral Rock in Sedona is the most photographed spot in Arizona.
Considering that Arizona also has the Grand Canyon, this is quite a
statement.
Every evening around sunset, photographers begin lining up on the other
side of this landmark with their cameras hoping to capture a shot of
Cathedral Rock with a golden glow. They have their backs to the setting
sun.
I wanted to do something a little different, so I set up my shot facing the sun
and waited for the sun to go behind the rocks. When the viewer’s eyes go to
the brightest spot in the image, they also go directly to the rock formation
that is the object of the image.
About half of this image is a black silhouette, so it is no surprise that we
have significant shadow clipping. This is not only desirable but intentional.
It also should come as no surprise that we might have some highlight
clipping since we are shooting directly into the sun. The histograms reveal
that this clipping is actually minor and only occurs in the red histogram.
When this image is blown up to 24 inches wide, there are a lot of details
behind the silhouette that become visible.
We need to remember that artistic intent is more important than rules and
guidelines. This image is properly exposed because the exposure is proper
for the artistic intention.
West Fork is a wonderful trail about eight miles north of Sedona. The trail
crosses Oak Creek seventeen times. This is the second crossing point. If
you are able to enlarge this image enough, you will see hikers just above the
center of the image where the reflection ends.
Our histograms tell us that we have no significant clipping and that the
image is biased toward the shadows.
If we divide this image into 4 quadrants, you will see that each quadrant is
different. The brightest quadrant is the upper right. Because of the
brightness in this area, I had to wait until late afternoon when most of the
canyon was in the shade. I also needed enough light to create a clear
glowing reflection in the lower right quadrant.
The bright red rocks in the upper left quadrant are always in the shade, so I
had to be sure that there was still enough ambient light to get the color and
details of this rock cliff that overhangs the creek.
The lower left quadrant is quite dark but details are still visible in the
reflection. This quadrant is the main contributor to the bias toward the
shadows.
The histograms gave me the assurance that I had all the image data that I
needed without clipping. I then knew that I could refine the image in
Photoshop and recover all the details of this scene.
Sometimes you have to challenge yourself with a tricky shot that teaches you
volumes. Figure 46 is such a situation.
These plants grow alongside a dry creek bed. They are always in the shade
and grow on a steep vertical rise. This makes it difficult to get a tripod near
them. My first attempt was to set my tripod up as close as I could get —
about 15 feet away — and use a telephoto lens to zoom in. There just wasn’t
enough light to make this work, so I decided to find a way to get the shot
with my 50mm prime lens.
With great difficulty, I finally got the tripod stabilized on the side of the
creek bed so that my camera was about 3 feet from the shrub. I then set my
aperture to f/8 so that I would have enough depth of field. After several
attempts, I had my shutter speed set to 1/500 sec and my ISO at 800 and I
still was significantly underexposed.
To make matters worse, these little seahorse-like spirals move with a breath
of wind and the breeze is constant where they grow. It was also difficult to
focus because there was very little ambient light.
I finally got the shot by using flash fill. It took several attempts but I finally
got the shot I wanted. The histograms gave me the confidence to pack up
and move on after about four hours of failed attempts. Note that the flash fill
did not cause highlight clipping in this image.
The shadow clipping in this image is not a problem because I wanted a dark
and blurred background for maximum contrast.
The image in Figure 47 is along the West Fork Trail. The park is called Call
of the Canyon Park. Zane Gray wrote many of his books in a cabin about
300 feet from this spot.
Notice in the histograms that there appears to be highlight clipping. This is
totally due to the artistic white border that I chose for this image.
The original image did not have any clipping. The more you use
histograms, the quicker you will identify exceptions to the rules.
—O—

When I was taking this shot, a novice photographer set his tripod up a few
feet from mine. After a few minutes, he asked me what he should focus on
to get the best results. I told him to set his aperture for the smallest size his
lens would allow and then focus on the area of transition between the white
and black areas of the dead tree in the foreground. The small aperture
would give the maximum depth of field and focusing on an object in the
foreground would assure a sharp image throughout. The point of focus
should be about 1/3 into the scene. In other words, along the horizontal line
that would indicate the top of the bottom third of the image.
The photo above was created by combining 40 high resolution images in
Photoshop. The composite file is over a gigabyte and would produce an
image that is 7 feet wide by 4 feet high if printed at a resolution of 240 ppi.
This is one of the many rock cliffs that overhang Oak Creek. I wanted to
capture both the texture and the colors and I wanted an image that I could
blow up as large as I wanted without losing details.
As you can see from the histograms, the distribution of tones is fairly even
and only slightly biased toward the shadows.
This particular spot never sees the sun. It is in shade year round. This
makes it an ideal subject for deep color saturation and fine detail without any
harsh light.
This chapel is one of Sedona’s most famous landmarks. It was designed by
a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and blends so well with the rocks that it is
difficult to spot from any significant distance until you learn where to look.
Because of the relative position of the sun in this image, we have both bright
sunlight and dark shadows on the rocks and chapel.
The four histograms associated with this image verify that it was properly
exposed.
This is the same Chapel as in Figure 40. This time we are capturing the
image at night. The histograms show a strong bias toward the shadows. In
this case, that is exactly what we want.
This is the side of Cathedral Rock that most people are familiar with.

There are two things about this image that are significant. First, it is square.
It is very difficult to create images that look good in a square format. This is
the only one in my portfolio.

Second, I used a vignette around the image to help push the viewer’s eyes to
the rock formation and its reflection. The vignette has caused the Blue
Histogram to clip on both sides. There is also some minor clipping in the
Red Histogram. I don’t consider either of these to be a problem, since the
Luminosity Histogram looks fine.
Conclusion

With a solid foundation in Photographic Histograms, you should now be

ready to apply what you have learned in the field. It should give you
confidence in your exposure setting and insight as you edit your images in
post-processing.

Histograms are merely graphical representations of the distribution of

numerical data.

Photographic Histograms are a specialized case of histograms. They

always have 256 bars of data.

In Digital Photography we use four types of histograms:

Luminosity — RGB — Colors — Color Channel

Why Reviews Help Everybody

If you found this book of value, please help others to find it by writing a
review. Reviews don’t have to be long – Amazon only requires 20
words.

There are over a Million eBooks and over 20 million Printed Books on
Amazon.com. For an author like me, it is very difficult to be noticed.
Amazon places a great deal of value on reviews, but statistically there is
only one review written for every thousand books sold on Amazon.
Some people stack the deck in their favor by having their friends write
4- and 5-star reviews before their book is even published. This practice
crowds out the rest of us since their books immediately go to the top of
the list and stay there because others buy their books based on the
reviews.
Legitimate reviews help everybody. They help others to find the best
books and avoid the bad ones. They also help authors to learn what
they are doing right and what they need to improve. I honestly want to
write the best books that I possibly can, but without feedback I have no
idea if I am accomplishing my mission. I love to share what I have
learned and save others from the many hours of effort that it took me to
learn those things. Clear communication has always been my goal but
only you can tell me if I am succeeding.

So, if you found value here, please help others to find these books by
writing a review.
 Photography Books by Al Judge

All Book images in this section are also hyperlinks to Amazon.com

Book Pages.

If you are an experienced film photographer who is

transitioning to digital, Digital Photography Like a Pro! is an excellent
guide that will help you to learn the language of digital photography and
make you aware of things that are unique to digital as opposed to film.

This is also an excellent guide for advance amateur photographers

who are considering a move to the professional ranks.

The information about Photoshop programs is now out of date. Photoshop is

now only available as a subscription.

I hope to update the photo editing information and release a new edition in
the near future.

— O—
 When I first decided to learn Photoshop, I looked for
a class somewhere, but there were none within 70 miles of my home. I then
decided to teach myself through books. The process was incredibly difficult
and time consuming. Even the Dummy Books were incomprehensible.

In time, I cracked the code and was very successful at using Photoshop, but I
never forgot the frustration that I experienced. What I learned was that all
the Photoshop books were geared toward people who were upgrading to a
new release. The basics were totally ignored.

I wanted to save others from the same frustrations that I had endured, so I
decided to write an easy to follow guide for beginners that would quickly
take them to proficiency.

The material in this book is supported by more than 12 hours of video

instruction, so that you can watch me use Photoshop to perform the tasks
that are discussed in the book.

I also learned that technique is everything in Photoshop. There are dozens of

ways to do everything but some are ridiculously complex. The books that I
read early on, only discussed the difficult ways to do things.

— O—
 Most novice photographers fall into the trap of
trusting all the preset options on their cameras and never learn to use the
manual controls. The pitfall to this philosophy is that someday you will not
be able to capture that once in a lifetime image because your camera doesn’t
do what you want it to.

Understanding the Exposure Triangle — the interaction of Aperture, Shutter

Speed, and ISO — will do more for your results than anything built into the
automatic controls.

This is by far my most popular book and an Amazon Best Seller. It has been
the #1 Photography Reference book in the Kindle store for three years
running. This does not mean that it is always the #1 book, but that it has
occupied that spot more than any other book during that time frame and for
the majority of the time overall.

The two books below are my Digital Photography Series.

Book 1 will take you through the evolution of photography and cameras. If
you understand how cameras work, you will be comfortable with any camera
and have a relatively short learning curve when you buy a new camera.

You will also gain enough knowledge to make good buying decisions from
an educated point of view. You will no longer be at the mercy of hearsay
from well-meaning people who don’t know as much as they think or who
have basic misconceptions like — the sun has to be at your back or you
never need to use a flash in daylight.
Book 2, The Art of Photography, is focused on the artistic aspects of
photography. It also incorporates the work of 8 Featured Artists ranging
from novice to world-class professionals. There is much to be learned from
each of these artists and I feel blessed for their participation in this project.
The information in each book of the Finely Focused Photography Books
Series has been drawn from the first group of books above and enhanced to
be more narrowly focused.

The first book of this series, Understanding Digital Cameras, provides a

solid foundation for all the rest. You might find this book of interest even if
you are an experienced photographer.

This series of books – Finely Focused Photography Books – has been

written for people who prefer a quick read on ONE specific topic.
 Glossary of Terms

Additive Colors Colored Light produced by combining

(adding) a number of different light
frequencies or Pure Colors.
Blow Out An image that is so bright that no
highlight detail can be retrieved from the
clipped image data.
Bracketing Capturing several exposures of the same
image in rapid succession. The incremental
step between exposures is the bracket value.
Clipping In histograms, the image data that cannot
be recorded. Also data that is purposely
discarded, i.e. jpeg images.
Color Channel Histogram A histogram based on a single Primary
Color
Color Space An agreed-upon range of colors used
to define the limits of design of cameras and printers, etc..
Colors Histogram A type of histogram that overlays the
three color channel histograms on a normalized scale.
Dynamic Range The limits of a camera’s ability to
capture tonal data in an image.
Gamut The entire expanse of a color space.
Gradient The gradual transition from one color
to another. Any two colors can be used.
HDR An image with a High Dynamic
Range created by combining several exposures of the same image to
create a single composite image.
High Key Image An image that is mostly bright.
Usually done for artistic purposes.
Histogram A graphical representation of the
distribution of numerical data — usually presented as a bar chart.
Incident-Light Meter A meter designed to measure the light
falling on an object — in outdoor situations this would normally be
measuring sunlight.
Low Key Image An image that is intentionally very
dark. Usually done to create drama in the image.
Luminance The quantity of light that is reflected
by an object.
Luminosity The perceived brightness of an object
based on human vision.
Luminosity Histogram The type of histograms used in digital
cameras to fine-tune the exposure settings. Calculated from the three
Color Channel Histograms for the image.
Middle Gray Also called Neutral Gray — the exact
midpoint between Pure Black and Pure White — it has a reflectivity of
18% and is the standard that camera light meters are design for.
Primary Colors Any three colors that can produce every
other color when combined.
Pure Black The absence of light or combination
of all pigments, dyes, or paints.
Pure Colors Also called Spectral Colors —
Colored Light of a single frequency such as the primary colors Red,
Green, and Blue.
Reflected-Light Meters The type of light meter that is built into
cameras — they measure the light reflected by the objects in the scene
being photographed.
RGB Histogram A histogram created by simple
addition of the data of the three color channel histograms.
 Shooting to the Right To bias the exposure toward the right
side of the histogram without causing clipping. Used with the intent of
using photo editing software to bring out all the details and color
saturation possible.

Subtractive Colors Colors produced by combining paints,

dyes, or pigments of different colors — each additional pigment
absorbs or subtracts light to produce a different color.
White Light The combination of all light wave
frequencies.
Zone System A method of refining exposure developed
by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer.
 Table of Contents
Chapter One What is a Histogram?
Chapter Two Defining and Using Colors in Photography and Histograms
Chapter Three Developing and Defining Photographic Histograms
Chapter Four Applying Histograms