Do You Use Your Histogram (Page 6): Nope. I rely on my spot meter.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

BooIsMyCat wrote:

Do you use your histogram in your photography ...

Nope. I rely on my spot meter.

repleo Loc: Boston

BooIsMyCat wrote:

I have been reading up on the use of histograms an... (show quote)

I use the histogram in live view all the time. I use exposure compensation to avoid blowing out the highlights. I may push it a bit ETTR if it looks like I am blocking the shadows or else I will bracket the exposure. Exposing to the right may make the capture look a bit overexposed, but as long as the highlights aren't blown I can adjust it to taste in PP. I rarely need to check the histogram after capture.
The light meter will only give an average reading of the metered area and will try to set the exposure to render that average as 18% gray.

BooIsMyCat Loc: Somewhere

repleo wrote:

I use the histogram in live view all the time. I u... (show quote)

I agree.
I also use Live View to get the sharpest focus I can.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

smussler wrote:

I use Highlight warnings, don't really understand histograms. I am a newbee to DSLR's. I am not following - AT ALL - what glaring omission that you are referring to.
I have read quite a few articles on Histograms. I am a bit frustrated in trying to understand them better, but moving subjects? Not following . . .

What's happened is the op was given some bad information and is asking to clarify it.

The histogram has absolutely nothing to do with motion and everything to do with exposure. The histogram is a visual graph of how light is sent to your sensor, how your photo is exposed. following are two great examples that should clarify to you what the histogram is and how to interpret it.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/how-read-your-cameras-histogram?BI=572/?BI=572&kw=&c3api=0980,351266798577&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6PD3BRDPARIsAN8pHuF63rVXEl41CuRGEfRE7L9oT8amieOlWTWRQdS8fIaiU2LsJHlMxmMaAlgKEALw_wcB

https://photographypro.com/histogram/

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

frankraney wrote:

What's happened is the op was given some bad info... (show quote)

I understand Motion having nothing to do with Histograms. I don't understand what Frustrations, would befall upon photographers who decide to read up on histograms. I have read quite a bit on Histograms, and haven't suffered thru any frustrations not seeing motion mentioned. I'd like the OP to explain what frustration he thinks will be experienced by others reading about Histograms. He keeps saying that Hoggers aren't answering or following his post. The best info I've read to date is in one of Steve Perry's PDF books and Photography school site. I'll take a look at your links.

LewSpecker

White balance - this why we adjust our camera to the ambient light. Depending on the camera the WB sometime is over or underexposed, so we adjust the EV (exposure compensation). The best way to determine the amount of =/- EV is to take an image and look at the histogram. As the EV modifies the image the histogram will move right or left. If you read why there is a histogram, the purpose will be self evident.

repleo Loc: Boston

LewSpecker wrote:

White balance - this why we adjust our camera to the ambient light. Depending on the camera the WB sometime is over or underexposed, so we adjust the EV (exposure compensation). The best way to determine the amount of =/- EV is to take an image and look at the histogram. As the EV modifies the image the histogram will move right or left. If you read why there is a histogram, the purpose will be self evident.

????? White balance is to do with color temperature, (ie cool/blue to warm/red) not exposure. WB is a different setting on the camera but easier to adjust in PP.

Best way to select the exposure is to check the histogram BEFORE you take the image -but that requires a mirrorless camera. You can display the histogram in the EVF and see the effects of the exposure compensation and the WB while you are composing the shot.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

repleo wrote:

????? White balance is to do with color temperature, (ie cool/blue to warm/red) not exposure. WB is a different setting on the camera but easier to adjust in PP.

But different settings of 'in camera' WB will affect the histogram/s you view on the camera.

This can make a difference to the exposure you choose in certain situations.

BooIsMyCat Loc: Somewhere

frankraney wrote:

What's happened is the op was given some bad info... (show quote)

NO, the OP was not given some bad info... you misread, or misunderstood my comment which I've tried to clarify multiple times.

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

BooIsMyCat wrote:

I have been reading up on the use of histograms an... (show quote)

What glaring omission are you referring to?

Grahame Loc: Fiji

smussler wrote:

What glaring omission are you referring to?

I suspect that comment in the initial post by the OP was an attempt at stating the obvious, to most of us, that there is much written and said about the importance of using the histogram and its value that some beginners may consider it as a 'requirement' to achieve their needed exposure prior to EVERY shot.

Of course, the more experienced understand we may not look at it at all when shooting certain subjects e.g. sports, race cars (movement) e.t.c because we have already pre-planned and set up.

repleo Loc: Boston

Grahame wrote:

But different settings of 'in camera' WB will affect the histogram/s you view on the camera.

This can make a difference to the exposure you choose in certain situations.

I thought you were wrong about this until I Googled it. I questioned if WB actually effected exposure since it is applied after the capture. There seems to be a number of opinions, but I believe you are correct about it effecting the 'exposure you choose'. This link is the closest one I found that seems to support your position. https://www.mikepereaphotography.com/blog/2019/3/18/how-white-balance-affects-exposure.

Certainly some food for thought and I will experiment with it.

Thanks.

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

Grahame wrote:

I suspect that comment in the initial post by the ... (show quote)

Use prior to exposure? - Only with mirrorless - correct? So Mirrorless camera users must be the frustrated ones . . .

Grahame Loc: Fiji

smussler wrote:

Use prior to exposure? - Only with mirrorless - correct? So Mirrorless camera users must be the frustrated ones . . .

From an earlier post by the OP he mentions

"I find that using Live View with the RGB histogram, if I adjust my exposure based on whichever color-channel has data farthest to the right, my exposure comes out perfect every time.......This works well with bright flowers such as white or red ones".

So the way I see it, or what the Op is suggesting as 'frustrating' is that attempting to accurately adjust exposure by use of the histogram, which could also be the individual RGB histograms, with a mirror-less or DSLR live view histogram (if there is such a thing) is difficult if you are shooting moving subjects with changing predominant colours. But I could be wrong

LewSpecker

Correct mirrorless allows EVF analysis prior to taking the image. However, not everyone has mirrorless with that feature.So, either way the histogram is usefull. I have found that in bright daylight -1/3 EV helps on most cameras.