Erika Mills - Melissa thank you thank you THANK YOU for this! This is by far the easiest explanation and I feel so excited to shoot having found this!!!
Valentina - Thank you so much for this explanation. I have been so intimidated by histograms and you made them look not scary at all!!
stephen machua - I thank you again for the information,now my decisions will be deliberate. I knew i needed to do something with my images just didn't know what exactly. I have been doing a few back lite images ever since i saw your work for the fist time. Thank you.
Tampa Wedding Photographer - I've been meaning to write an informative, detailed post about this very subject for a while and I just haven't done it. Now I don't have to because this is wonderful.
I teach wedding photography classes here in Tampa and I'll be adding this link to my students information. Well done!
Heather Corporan - Awesome post Melissa! I agree that many of us newbies can get a little hardcore with the attempt at edgy sharp images, so this post is a huge blessing. I think you explained it perfectly in writing (I'm a visual learner, so the pictures helped oodles!) But if I can get it, anyone can : D Thanks bunches for the loads of knowledge you so freely pass on!
Nicole Diehnelt - Thank you for such an informative post! It was very clear and I learned a lot. I appreciate it!
Lisa Mathewson - OMGoodness, I was just going to email you and ask if you could try and explain this again, I remembered it from the workshop but got confused on the backlighting images. Thanks so much for clarifying this information, I really appreciate it! On a side note, my husband wants to thank you for one of your last posts where you mentioned the hummus on your lunch sandwich. He read your post and is now putting hummus on his sandwiches :) So thank you for making his drab turkey sandwich more enjoyable!! I was cracking up when he told me this! Hope all is well!
Linda - This is great Melissa! One question--when you say "I purposefully over-expose according to what my camera meter is telling me"--do you mean that you meter off of your subject, but then if they aren't the brightest part of the image, you overexpose? or would you ever meter off of what is the brightest part of the image (when it isn't the subject)?
Melissa Jill - Hi Linda! I use evaluative metering and meter off the subject's face then generally over-expose between 1/3 to a full stop when they aren't the brightest part of the frame. If I metered off the brightest part of the frame, or just trusted my in-camera meter, I would end up habitually under-exposing.
Lance Selgo - Melissa, thanks a lot for sharing. I read through your posts all the time and as I sat there reading it today, I wondered why I haven't commented to thank you for your contributions because I can tell how much work you put into your posts. You could just as easily disregard this information but instead you go the extra mile to share it with all of us. Much appreciated!
Brian Davis - I love posts like these, they're very helpful! Looking forward to more.
Shayla - Thanks for the info Melissa! Very informative!
Pam Rauber - Excellent coverage on histogram. I always use the histogram as my guide on the LCD because I can see this better than a photo when outside. Thanks as usual for sharing such important info.
Bryan Stokes - Melissa, you did a great job explaining the histogram. Thank you! I already had a pretty good understanding of what the histogram was telling me, but I didn't quite understand how to fix some of the issues in post-pruduction. As always, thanks for being such a generous mentor!
Dennis Bullock - Great post Melissa! I do have one question that I would like to know how you handle. When working with back lite subjects where you know a portion of your image will be blown out how do you use your display to make sure what you are interested is properly exposed. Do you use the blinking warnings on the image preview?
Melissa Jill - That's a good question Dennis. I basically eyeball the LCD display on my camera. I've gotten used to knowing what I'm looking for just from that.
~Kristina - You are so very helpful! While I know that mastering photography is an art, you certainly offer up many technical tid bits to help along the way.
Megan - Thanks Melissa! This really brought lots of things into perspective! You did a good job explaining too!
Julie - Melissa - This is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing with us. You have no idea how you are impacting so many budding photographers!
Stephanie Barnes - Thanks for sharing that blog post and information. I did know a decent amoung about histograms before and I edit in photoshop so I work with the levels....but I was wondering how you edit the "stopped upu blacks" in photoshop. Thanks!
Becky - Great stuff, Melissa! Thank you for this info!! I am a newer photographer and still learning and this is very helpful.