Making exposure adjustments

Use the histogram as a guide to fixing shots that are too dark or too bright

If the spread of the histogram across the graph doesn’t match the brightness range of the scene, then the exposure may be incorrect. If, for example, you’re taking a picture of a snow-covered scene and the histogram isn’t on the right side of the graph, then the image will look underexposed or too dark.

You can push the histogram right for a brighter result or left for a darker one using exposure compensation. If you’re using Manual mode, changing the aperture, shutter speed or ISO will have the same effect. If you set a slower shutter speed, a wider aperture or higher ISO to increase the exposure, you will see the histogram move to the right hand side.

Keep an eye out for clipping as you make exposure adjustments. This happens when the histogram is pushed too far left or right and gets clipped off at the edge of the graph. If part of the histogram is pushed off the left side of the graph, the clipped areas of the picture will lose detail and be recorded as pure black. If the histogram is clipped on the right, these areas will be recorded as pure white. There will be some parts where you wouldn’t expect to see detail, such as specular highlights or the sun, and you may want to underexpose or overexpose an image for creative effect too.