A histogram is a chart that displays the amount of visual information for all of the levels of brightness in a photo. It goes from pure black (on the left) to pure white (on the right).

Here is the histogram for the above photo:

The histogram shows that this is a well-balanced photo, with plenty of visual information in the dark, middle and light areas.

What if the photo is too dark?

The histogram looks different. Here is the histogram for the dark photo above:

There is plenty of information in the dark range on the left, but nothing at all in the lights on the right.

What would a histogram look like for a photo that is too light?

You guessed it. The histogram would look like this:

There isn't much visual information in this photo, and there is nothing at all in the dark range on the far left.

Most digital cameras know how to display histograms. You can use this tool to help you figure out if you took a well-balanced photo. If the histogram is skewed to one side or the other, you might want to make some adjustments and take another shot!

What do you think the histogram would look like for this photo?