A graph showing how many pixels fall at each brightness level, from pure black on the left to white on the right.
A histogram plots the distribution of tones in a frame, with shadows on the left, highlights on the right, and the height of each point showing how many pixels share that brightness. It gives a quick read on exposure and contrast: a spike jammed against the right edge means clipped highlights, a spike against the left means crushed blacks, and a bunched middle means a flat, low-contrast image. Editors and colorists use it to confirm they are using the full tonal range without clipping detail they wanted to keep. Many tools show separate red, green, and blue histograms too, which helps diagnose color casts. It is fast and intuitive, though less precise about where in the frame a problem sits than a waveform or parade.
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