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Why the Histogram isn’t So Important Anymore

Chris Gampat
No Comments
03/16/2023
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Histograms  edited (1 of 1)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 2.8

Over the years, we’ve done several tutorials on demystifying the histogram. And indeed, I’ll give it its merits and value. The histogram is a very important part of photography that’s sometimes more accurate than the exposure preview setting. But that’s changed over the past few years as LCD screens have evolved in kind. At least, the histogram is most important when it comes to shooting photos for the edit later on. After testing tons of cameras and lenses over the years, I stopped shooting for the histogram; and this is why.

I’m going to preface this article with this statement: this is just what I do. I’ve known a ton of photographers who shoot Canon and Nikon shoot very similarly to me. Ultimately, just shoot however you’d like to get the results that you do. But consider trying something new at the same time.

Why don’t I use the exposure preview mode? It surely affects the autofocus performance of any camera. Every manufacturer has come out and said this, and it also is pretty much how both human and computer vision work. But it also is tougher for my eyesight to process.

Why the Histogram Shouldn’t Matter

For many years, photographers always told people to shoot for the histogram. But after the exposure preview mode on various cameras came out, they stopped doing that as much and discussing the histogram. Now, a lot of newer photographers shoot for whatever the exposure preview (or live view setting effect) mode tells them to do.

Shooting for the histogram is all about shooting for the editing process later on. There’s inherently nothing wrong with that, but there is a lot wrong with not making the efforts in-camera first. You can surely do a lot of post-production to a photo, but you should also make a ton of effort to not need to in-camera. On type of person is a photographer, and the other is a photo editor. Which one are you?

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There’s two different ways of thinking about this, though. The first one says that the Histogram is for editing layer on. So you’ll use the exposure preview setting to get it right in-camera and not have to worry about it later. And this is an incredibly valid point. But the other one says that you can shoot not for the histogram and truly just care about what you get in-camera. The latter is best off for people not using the exposure preview setting and using an off-camera flash. Off-camera flash (OFC) can do much more for your images than LEDs. The process is also completely different.

When Post-Production is Inevitable

There are a lot of situations where post-production can be inevitable. But there are things you can do in-camera with dynamic range to make that easier. And in that case, reading the histogram is pretty important. You might be missing the data in a specific color, the highlights, the midtones, or the shadows.

Some folks might say that you should shoot for the histogram if you’re doing landscapes. But you don’t necessarily need too if you’re setting up the dynamic range in-camera, use lens filters, etc. In post-production, you’ll probably just have to tweak contrast and a slight exposure setting. Of course, this depends on the format you’re shooting with too. Micro Four Thirds sensors I tend to shoot more like slide-film. So I need to get it perfect in-camera.

Photographers Need to Learn to See Light

Overall, photographers should truly just try to understand how to shoot and see light. And we shouldn’t necessarily just rely on the technology for all of these things. It develops a deeper connection and bond between our artistic side and our technical side. The two can talk to one another pretty easily then. A histogram and an exposure preview setting won’t necessarily help you with this.

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editing Exposure Preview histogram lighting Seeing Light settings shadows
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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