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 bled over into the overly shadow (shown as being within the blue rectangle on this camera) and overly highlight (red rectangle) areas. Admittedly, I don't know what these rectangles infer on this camera, but given the rest of the histogram, it appears it isn't an issue because none of the tonalities go over the edge (I'll show you examples of this in a few minutes).

There are a range of cameras using a range of different software, so I wanteed to make sure you understand that the way each camera displays the histogram will differ, but the information in the histogram is interpreted the same.

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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 less

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 less

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 less

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 less

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? less

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? less

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? less

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? less

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? less

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? less

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? less

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? less

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? less