Lesson 4: Working with the Histogram in Lightroom

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I have traveled and lectured at many photography conferences over the years and have listened in on many pros dispensing wisdom to aspiring photographers. One of the most misguided statements I have ever heard from the teaching pros is this: “I shoot JPG because I get the exposure RIGHT in the camera.” That is the dangerous wisdom of a fool.

As you can see from the previous video lessons on the histogram, the “RIGHT” exposure for capturing all the data is not always beautiful in the camera and may require some post production work to finish the photograph and that worthless little JPG from the pro’s camera will break down in seconds under the slightest adjustments. Ansel Adams ran into the same issue with his negatives, pushing or pulling film, then under or over developing it, ending up with negatives that may not have looked all the perfect. But it was that very process that allowed him to obtain the perfect print.

And we’ll say nothing of the fact that anyone shooting a JPG, even if they do shoot an image perfectly in camara has just arbitrarily thrown away 16,129 tones (per color channel) in the print to keep 255. Tossing forty-eight thousand tones or colors seems like a bad decision, even if you don’t want to edit the image in the least. So needless to say, I always shoot in a RAW format, and I am not looking for the “perfect” looking image on the back of my LCD screen. I am looking for the perfect histogram, full of usable data that I need to make the photograph I see in my mind when I am taking the photo.

When I am shooting, I first, want to control my light and fit it within the latitude (or histogram) of my camera. When I meet difficult lighting conditions that are beyond control, I must then control my exposure and start dancing with my histogram until I have the best possible exposure for my final image, which I have pre-visualized while shooting. But once I have captured the perfect exposure for any lighting scenario, I must them be able to manipulate and control that capture in post-production, in Lightroom.

In video Lesson 4: Working with the Histogram in Post-Production, we will address the histogram from the editor’s perspective–in Lightroom. With each lighting challenge we faced at the camera, there is an entirely new set of issues to address in post-production, and it is time to get started...

Don’t forget to RSVP for the final lesson in this series is the free webinar (Lesson 5 of 5) on September 15th at 11 AM PST: Perfecting Your Image in Lightroom. In this one hour webinar, we will take you deep into the methods and tools I use for perfecting my images and speeding up my workflow in Adobe Lightroom.