Camera Raw Histogram
Understanding Camera Raw's Histogram
-Histogram
-Understanding the Histogram
-Exposure Slider
-Recovery Slider
-The Rest
-Default
Histogram
The histogram in Camera Raw, highlighted here, is in the upper right hand corner of Camera Raw's interface.
Understanding the Histogram
Understanding what the histogram is telling you can be extremely useful. Basically, it's showing you the read out of your image, or the data of the image as far as darkness and lightness goes. On the Left, it shows you how much data is in the shadows of the image. The center gives you a read out of the mid-tones and on the very right it shows you the value/data of your highlights. As numbered in the reference image shown here:
1. Shadows
2. Mid-Tones
3. Highlights
As you can see, most of the information or data in this image is contained towards the shadows. There is a decent amount in the highlights as well, and very little information in the mid-tones.
Exposure Slider
Now lets take a look at the sliders on the right of Camera Raw's interface to see what each on of them does and how they effect the image.
Browse to the Exposure slider. This tool allows you to edit the exposure in the image. Draggin to the left will push towards the under exposure. If you drag it to the right, it will push all the values to the highlights.
Do this just to see, and you will notice that the Histogram will change and move towards which ever direction you are pulling the Exposure slider.
Recovery Slider
The Recovery Slider will basically "recover" or bring back any/most lost highlights. Pull it from left to right, and you will see it's effect. Also, if it is difficult to see it's effect, toggle the Preview button to see it's effect easier.
The Rest
The Fill Light will make your image brighter aswell. Blacks acts like the opposite of Recovery and brings back your blacks. The Brightness and Contrast will do what they say, and you can view their adjustments in the histogram.
Default
Remember you can always click on Default to return to how the image was shot from the camera if you don't like the edits that you have made to it while in Camera Raw.