Nikon D300 User Manual page 668

We are now entering the realm of post-processing, or
in-computer image manipulation. Look at the image in
Figure 9-20. This is the exact same image as Figure 9-19, but
it has been adjusted in Photoshop to cram more image detail
into the histogram by compressing the mid-range values.
Notice that the entire histogram seems to be farther right,
toward the light side. Also notice that the mid-range peaks are
basically gone. We removed a good bit of the mid-range, but
since there was already a lot of mid-range there, our image
did not suffer greatly.
How this computer post-processing was done is outside the
scope of this book, but it is not very hard. Buy a program like
Nikon Capture NX, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements,
Lightroom, or another fine graphics program designed for
photographers. Your digital camera and your computer are a
powerful imaging combination—a digital darkroom, where
you are in control from start to finish, from clicking the
shutter to printing the image. But, retreating from philosophy,
let's continue with our histogram exploration.
Notice in Figure 9-20 how the histogram edge is just touching
the highlight side of the histogram window?
A small amount of clipping is taking place, and you can see
the slightly blown out area on the peak of the cabin's roof.
Sometimes a very small amount of clipping does not seriously
harm the image.
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