aspects of the invention are disclosed in the following description and related drawings directed to specific embodiments of the invention . alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the scope of the invention . additionally , well - known elements of the invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the invention . fig3 shows an example of some controls typically found on a digital camera 200 . after an image is captured , the user can review the captured image 210 on a display 205 on the rear of the camera 200 . the review process may be initiated by pressing the review button 245 , or selecting this option on an on screen menu . pressing the review button 245 causes the captured image 210 to be displayed on the display 205 of the camera 200 . once the captured image 210 is displayed , the user may erase the captured image from the camera storage using the erase button 250 . the user may more closely examine a portion of the captured image 210 by zooming in on the displayed image using the zoom in button 215 and conversely zooming out using the zoom out button 220 . while the user is zoomed in on a portion of the displayed image 210 being displayed on the display 205 , the entire captured image 210 will not fit on the display 205 , so the ability to move the displayed portion of the captured image 210 shown on the display 205 may be helpful . movement of the portion of the captured image 210 being displayed may be accomplished using the up button 225 , down button 240 , left button 235 , and right button 230 . optionally the user may be able to control the zoom on a portion of the captured image 210 to a degree sufficient to display the constituent pixels of the captured image 210 on the display 205 where one pixel of the captured image 210 is displayed on one pixel of the display 205 , rather than interpolated pixels sometimes used to display a large number of pixels on a display with a smaller number of pixels . fig4 shows an enlargement of the display 205 located on the rear of the camera 200 , with a representation of a captured image 210 shown thereon . illustratively , the captured image is a person with a landscape behind the person . as noted above , not all portions of a captured image 210 are equally significant ; however the histogram 277 of the entire captured image 210 ( see fig1 ) treats all portions equally . the present invention permits the user to select a portion of the entire captured image 210 and provides a histogram 275 that is based upon information contained only in the selected portion of the entire captured image 210 ( in contrast to the histogram 277 that is based upon the information in the entire captured image ). the selection of the portion of the captured image 210 to be included in the histogram 275 may be accomplished by , for example , zooming the displayed portion of the captured image 210 in on the desired portion of the captured image 210 , so that the portion of the captured image 210 on which the histogram 275 is to be based is the portion of the captured image 210 that is displayed on the display 205 , and the data represented in the histogram 275 is based only upon the selected portion of the captured image 210 , and not the entire captured image 210 . in other words , the selected portion is less than the entire captured image , and represents only a fraction of the entire captured image , so that the captured image includes a selected portion of the whole captured image and an unselected portion of the whole captured image . another method of selecting a limited portion of the captured image 210 for basing the histogram 275 on is through the use of a selection box 265 , such as is shown in fig5 . the selection box 265 may be superimposed on the displayed image 205 and the position of selection box 265 may be moved within the displayed portion of the captured image 210 using the left button 235 , right button 230 , up button 225 and down button 240 . the histogram 275 on the display 205 displays a representation of the properties of the pixels in the selected portion of the captured image 210 bounded by the selection box 265 . the size of the selection box 265 may be adjustable , and may be controlled with the zoom in button 215 and zoom out button 220 . when the user is satisfied with the size and location of the selection box 265 ( i . e ., the portion of the captured image for which a histogram is desired is located within the selection box ), the user can press the ok button 260 to cause a histogram 275 to be generated for the selected portion of the captured image 210 . prior to the ok button 260 being pressed , the histogram 275 may display the histogram 275 of the entire captured image 210 , or the histogram 275 may display the histogram 275 of only the pixels within the selection box 265 . using the selection box 265 , a portion of the captured image 210 on the image display 205 may be selected and then the selected portion may be enlarged to fill the entire , or substantially the entire , area of the display 205 , although this is not necessary . the selection box method may be used in multiple iterations , each iteration selecting a smaller or larger or different sub - portion of the captured image 210 . the user may thereby select the portion of the captured image 210 that is most important to the user , and then receive or view a histogram 275 of the selected portion or sub - portion of the captured image 210 . the subject 270 of the captured image 210 , shown in fig3 , is the person and in this captured image 210 the user may feel , for example , that the most important element to have exposed correctly is the subject &# 39 ; s face 280 . to ensure the subject &# 39 ; s face 280 is correctly exposed , the invention allows the photographer to zoom in on a portion of the captured image 210 using the zoom in button 215 , zoom out button 220 and the pan up button 225 , pan down button 240 , pan left button 235 and pan right button 230 until the desired portion , such as the subject &# 39 ; s face 280 , fills the display 205 . see for example , fig6 . the display 205 is almost completely filled with the subject &# 39 ; s face 280 , and the histogram 275 on the display 205 represents the luminosities ( or other characteristics ) of the pixels representing the subject &# 39 ; s face 280 ( in the selected portion of the captured image 210 ). viewing the histogram 275 of the selected portion of the captured image 210 , such as the subject &# 39 ; s face 280 , the user can determine if the exposure of the captured image 210 is correct or needs to be adjusted . the user may then choose to make adjustment to the camera settings , such as shutter speed , aperture size , or equivalent iso sensitivity , based upon the histogram 275 generated from the properties of the pixels in the selected portion of the captured image 210 , rather than having to make such adjustments based upon a histogram 275 generated from the properties of all the pixels in the entire captured image 210 . in another embodiment of the invention , the image capture system automatically adjusts the image capture settings of the camera that affect the exposure of the next captured image to be captured based on the histogram 275 for the selected portion of the captured image 210 . the method of adjusting the image capture settings affecting the exposure of the next captured image using the histogram 275 for the entire captured image 210 is known and is explained , for example , in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 486 , 915 , the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference . one of the advantages the present invention has over the &# 39 ; 915 patent is that the present invention allows the user to select the portion of the captured image 210 that he or she considers the most significant and desires to have the correct exposure rather than being limited to the properties of all the pixels in the entire captured image 210 that determine the image capture settings affecting the exposure . the boundaries of the selected portion of the captured image are not limited to any particular size or shape within the captured image , and thus the resulting histogram 275 may reflect information about only a particular portion of the captured image that may be relatively small or relatively unrepresentative with respect to the entirety of the captured image . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention .