Mastering the Nikon D300

2.17. Understanding the Histogram

Using the histogram screens on your D300's Monitor LCD will guarantee you a much higher percentage of well-exposed images. It is well worth spending time to understand the histogram, and it isn't as complicated as it looks.

I'll try to cover this feature with enough detail to give you a working knowledge of how to use the histogram to make better pictures. If you are deeply interested in the histogram, there is much research material available on the Internet. Although this overview is brief, it will present enough knowledge to improve your technique immediately.

Light Range

The D300's sensor can only record a certain range of light values, which is about 5 to 7 usable EV steps. Unfortunately, many of the higher ...