LCD to Monitor - Exposure Discrepancy - Use Histogram?

[biotechie]

Hi All,

Thanks for taking a look at this question. I tried to use as descriptive a title I could. Also, I assume that this has been asked before but I couldn’t find any concrete info on this and hence the post.

A friend of mine asked me to shoot some portrait pictures of him at a local park and adjoining tennis court. The session was a learning experience for me - where to place your subject in relation to the light on them and behind them, manual metering, controlling depth of field etc. The one thing I was disappointed with was the exposure of the pictures. And by exposure I mean that the pictures looked fine on my LCD screen but were either too bright or too dark when I loaded them on the comp. Now, my computer screen is not calibrated but even if it were, the basic question still remains - how do I ensure that what I am seeing on the LCD screen is pretty close to what I’ll get on my comp? In a landscape class I took, the instructor made it a point to mention that he only uses the LCD to check for composition. Which means the only other option is to look at your histogram. Im assuming that if two things are done correctly - (1) metering correctly (meaning to your liking) and (2) checking histogram for clipped highlights - then it should result in an evenly exposed image, right? Just looking for guidance to see if Im on the right track.

Thanks again!

Cheers!

[candleman]

1 calibrate your monitor (you dont even need a calibrator, you can use the online contrast adjustment thingy-mabob and its actually pretty close.
the images i get back from the printer are darn near identical to what my screen is showing me.

2. make sure your camera LCD is set to "normal" and not bright or something.. that actually makes a difference.

personally.. i dont bother too much with the histogram other than for looking at clipping.
if there are any real problems i post process them. and thats where shooting RAW comes in

[Photologyst]

One thing that is emphasized over and over is that there is no such thing as a “perfect” histogram. Often it depends on the intention of the artist/photographer. I prefer very dynamic wide range, dramatic photo other people prefer even distribution.

When looking at your photo on the LCD check the histogram in RGB rather than only the photo itself. It’s easier to see in any light and judge if that’s what you wanted, compared to just the photo.

This might help: Understanding Histograms

[terri33inne]

Thanks so much for posting this... I struggle with the exact same thing... I just did the online calibration for this monitor & it seems spot on... I need to do the same with my laptop which has a 'glossy' screen for lack of a better word, and skintones look so much better on it than when I look on my PC monitor.