How do I read the histogram?

[Michele]

What am I doing wrong if most of my histograms have a big spike at the beginning?

So many of my pictures are too dark, even outside in bright daylight. I'm not at the computer with the pictures, I'll try to post some later.

And can someone tell me again who is the author of that book I should read, Understanding Exposure. I defintely need to read it before our next trip.

TIA??

 

[polkadotladybug]

Book is by Bryan Peterson - I ordered it last Wed from Amazon for 15 bucks and threw on another book that my daughter wanted for her birthday and got FREE shipping - they both arrived on Saturday and I did NOT upgrade (ie - pay!) the shipping. It is AWESOME!

I still don't understand the histogram yet - maybe google it? I know you want it to spike in the middle - on one side means too light, other side means too dark.

 

[jann1033]

Bryan Peterson is the author( might be Petersen, can't remember the spelling now)if the spike is all the way to the left and touching the left side or bunched up on the left and touching that means the dark/shadows areas are to dark and you are losing detail there, the other way( all the way and touching the right) the highlights are blown and you are losing detail there...some things will just be a spike due to what you are taking but you don't want them touching either edge.
can you set your exposure on your camera? i have a little scale on mine and can move it to the rt or left, rt makes it slightly overexpose( lighter), lt makes it slightly underexpose( darker)..if it's all your photos, you might need to set it a tiny bit more to the right,do it in little increments and see if it helps..if you can shoot in raw, some software raw converters let you adjust the exposure in post processing
if you have an exposure lock feature , the best tip imo from his book is point your camera to the sky, lock the exposure on it and then take the photo...or you can do the same thing with grass( green) just make sure it fills the frame. i've also heard the palm of your hand works as well but never tried that.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

What am I doing wrong if most of my histograms have a big spike at the beginning?

So many of my pictures are too dark, even outside in bright daylight. I'm not at the computer with the pictures, I'll try to post some later.

What kind of camera are you using, and what mode (Auto, Tv, Manual?) for the camera?

The easy answer is that if your histograms are all crunched up against the left side, you're underexposing your pictures ... that's why they're dark. But, without knowing more about your camera or settings, there's not much to say that might help....

 

[Geoff_M]

Great tutorial link on reading histograms.

 

[Michele]

I'm using Canon EOS Digital Rebel, it's about 4 years old. We have always just used it on the program mode until the last few months that I have been frequenting this board. On our last trip, I tried using manual mode for most of the pictures, but even on program or Av mode they all seemed dark.

 

[jann1033]

I'm using Canon EOS Digital Rebel, it's about 4 years old. We have always just used it on the program mode until the last few months that I have been frequenting this board. On our last trip, I tried using manual mode for most of the pictures, but even on program or Av mode they all seemed dark.

i have a rebel xt and hopefully it sets the same
to set the exposure compensation you have to be in the creative mode part of the dial( not auto or manual)check where the exposure is now by 1/2 shutter press and looking at the scale ( mine is to the right in the small lcd under the eyepiece. hold down the av button( back by lcd screen) while turning the thumb dial by the shutter. you'd want to go to the rt one notch and then see how it is from there...i have mine one notch to the left so i wouldn't constantly blow highlights.