Thursday, June 18, 2009

Photoshop Workbench 182: Shedding Light on Photoshop’s Histogram and Info Panels

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For many, Photoshop’s Histogram and Info Panels are mysterious, foreboding places never to be explored. To the enlightened, however, these panels possess information that sheds valuable light on the tonal and color information in their images. I find these panels absolutely indispensable.

I use the Histogram panel as a spyglass into an image’s tonal (brightness) values. As I correct an image, I typically use the histogram to ascertain three important bits of information––am I blowing out the highlights, are the shadows blocking up, and am I correcting with too heavy a hand? In other words, is the image beginning to show signs of posterization?

The Info panel is a wonderful tool for making decisions about color. Let’s use the panel to learn about how Photoshop handles color.

5 Responses to “Photoshop Workbench 182: Shedding Light on Photoshop’s Histogram and Info Panels”

  1. Joe Filer Says:
    Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 7:22 am

    Good tutorial, but I have a technical question. If the 0-255 scale is the range in 8 bit mode, why doesn’t the scale change to a larger value (finer increments) when in 16 bit mode? There is supposedly smoother color gradations in 16 bit, but I don’t see that the user can type in a value other than the basic 255.

  2. Steve Morley Says:
    Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    Michael…great reference photo. How can we obtain ?

    Txs

    /sm

  3. Steve Morley Says:
    Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    Of Course I meant Mark.

  4. Barry Pettinger Says:
    Friday, June 19, 2009 at 11:27 am

    Enjoyed the workbench very much. I have been through this before, but it is nice to have a refresher. Thanks

  5. Mike Worley Says:
    Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    One of the most useful workbenches ever!

    Mike

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