Running with my son from The Warren towards Abersoch Beach.  The tide was out so we

managed to make it all the way to Abersoch and back.

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Amazing view from the highway.

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Absolutely stunning resort and casino.

The aquarium and water park are amazing, and they have a great 50’s theme ice-cream shop that served the absolute best  ice-cream I’ve ever tasted.

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Caught just before lifting off, amazingly close to the FDR drive.

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What is a Histogram?

A histogram is a graph that displays how light is distributed in your picture. The left side of the graph represents the shadows, while the highlights are on the right.

That means that if the histogram has a high peak on the left, you can tell that a lot of pixels in the picture are dark, or in shadow. A peak on the right of the graph means that a lot of pixels are bright, or in highlights. Peaks in the middle of the graph represent pixels in the midtones of your exposure.
 

The Histogram of a Good Photo

Right, now let’s look at some examples of histograms. Refer to the picture below. On both the left side and the right side of the graph, you can see that there are no high peaks. This kind of histogram tells you that no part of the scene is over or underexposed. In other words, this shot should look good.
 

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The histogram of a good photo
 

The Histogram of an Underexposed Photo

Ok, now let’s look at the histogram of an underexposed photo. You can see a spike in the shadows that starts with a peak on the left of the graph. That means that the picture has lost data in the shadows. There’s also just a few pixels trailing off the right side of the graph, so a tiny bit of data might have been lost there as well.
 

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The histogram of a underexposed photo
 

The Histogram of an Overexposed Photo

You can probably guess how an overexposed photo looks. Here you can see a pronounced spike on the right side of the graph. Do note that the height of the peaks is somewhat low in this picture; that’s not an indication of under or overexposure. All you need to worry about is whether they breach the left or right edges of the histogram.
 

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The histogram of a overexposed photo
 

Conclusion

Well, I hope this article has given you some insight into how the histogram function of your camera works. When composing your photo, always try to avoid the histogram from spiking at either extreme end of the graph, where you’ll lose data and have under- or overexposed parts of your picture.

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Ruins of an old Hudson River transfer terminal on the west side of Manhattan.

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Well, some enterprising people have found that many of the “missing functions” can be enabled by small modifications of the camera firmware. Now of course Canon do not approve of this and technically it may void the camera warranty if you upload non-Canon firmware, but many people report good results and few problems from installing this firmware hack. If necessary you can always load the Canon firmware back into the camera and restore it to its original state.

Loading new firmware isn’t a difficult process. You download the firmware file from a website (see URL below) and load it onto a CF card. The Canon website linked to below tell you how to do this via either a CF card reader attached to your computer or via a USB link to the camera. You then place the card with the new firmware in the camera and turn the camera on. The camera recognizes the firmware update file on the CF card and displays messages on the rear LCD screen which tell you how to proceed. Basically you just confirm that you want to install the bew firmware and the camera does the rest!

Among the functions the firmware hack makes available are:

• Enables Custom functions menu
• Enables Flash Exposure Compensation using SET button
• Enables SET button function when shooting (to change image quality or shooting parameters)
• Enables Shutter release w/o CF card
• Flash sync speed in Av mode
• Enables RAW+JPEG rec. Enables setting the quality of embedded JPEG
• Enables Mirror Lock up
• Enables the ability to select the autofocus mode: AI servo, Oneshot etc.
• Enables setting ISO 3200

The latest version of the firmware is available from http://satinfo.narod.ru/en/download.html

Canon have instructions for installing new firmware at http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/eosdigital/E3kr_firmware-e.html. Of course they apply to installing the CANON firmware, but they are equally applicable to the hacked firmware.

I can’t recommend you install the hacked firmware unless you are prepared to accept any problems that result. Lots of people seem happy with it though. I do not own a Digital Rebel, so I don’t have to make the decision whether or not to hack the firmware. However I received this email from Neal Stout, who seems pleased with the results and gave me permission to post his comments:

“…The function display numbers are screwed up. Instead of 1 through 17, it goes, 1,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5. The repeated ones, twos, threes and fours are not a mistake. The funtion number window at the top of the menu works just fine though, just like the 10D. The menu itself operates perfectly in spite of the mislabling, and all of the items appear to be identical to the 10D, except for funtion 17. That is different. On the Rebel it specifies the number of seconds before the image is taken when mirror release in in effect. To me that is *great*, because I do not have to touch the camera again to take the shot - I don’t need a remote control…”

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I’ve been researching methods for photographing wildlife on my upcoming vacation to Costa Rica. There’s no telling what kind of creatures that may cross my field of view. No doubt, however, that many will be a good distance away in the shadows of the forest canopy.

One of the items I kept coming across when researching techniques for taking photos of birds or monkeys in the canopy was a “Flash Extender”. The most common being one called the Better Beamer. Turns out that this is nothing more than a fresnel lens on a bracket. I thought, hey, I can do that!
So I purchased a $2.50 fresnel reading lens at Barnes & Nobles and got to tinkering with some cardboard. I knew that cardboard by itself would be too flimsy, so I added some ridgity with some origami-style folded ribs and somewhat embarrassingly: McDonald’s milkshake straws.

The results, however, appear to be as acceptable as those of the $40 model. Its lightweight, foldable and cost me a whopping $2.50!

The idea of the flash extender is pretty simple, some may recognize the concept. Its been used for over 150 years in lighthouses.

	No GFE, ISO400, 70mm f/4, 1/60 sec	With GFE, IEO400, 70mm f/4, 1/60 sec

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When I and my son pass here, we have to stop by and wait for a train to pass, so he can wave to the driver, and of course the driver always reciprocates by sounding the horn and waving back.

My own father used to stop at every construction site we passed and held me up so I could watch the heavy machinery at work. I hope my boy remembers the trains and his daddy, like I remember the construction machines and my daddy helping me watch.

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I had the opportunity to fire one of these on several occasions, on one of which I made the attempt to shoulder fire it (as if it was an oversize M-16).  I can report that it is possible ( of course I weighed a solid 190 lbs at the time), but forget about accuracy, no matter what you do that barrel is riding up to the sky. It was bad-ass fun, the smell of cordite and the North Carolina pines under a bright blue sky, it more than made up for all the bullshit.

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