From the course: Retouching and Color Correcting Photography Portraits

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How to understand histograms

How to understand histograms

From the course: Retouching and Color Correcting Photography Portraits

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How to understand histograms

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- [Instructor] The histogram is your friend when you're processing photographs. It shows the distribution of the photo's data and is a valuable tool not only for adjusting tone, but also for correcting skin color. This is often described as a perfect histogram. You've got the hump in the middle and the information stretching from blacks to whites. But so is this one with its inverted hump. And here's another perfect histogram. Black dominates the image, so the curve is pushed to the left. And this is perfect, too, white dominates the image, so the curve is pushed to the right. Now let's deconstruct the graph. It's divided into five regions. As I click on each, watch how the adjustment sliders are highlighted. Blacks are on the left, shadow is next, mid tones move the exposure slider, highlights, and whites. You can target adjustments by moving these different sections. Watch how the photograph and the tools change as…

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