Banding in the sky

Dogdots · October 14, 2009

What am I doing wrong -- when I edit sometimes I get bands in the sky. Sometimes I notice it even before I edit or notice it more after running my noiseware.

Winter is coming and it seems to really show up on my winter photos. I hope someone can help me with this.

Thanks

GoofBckt · October 14, 2009

Hi Mary Kim. I have had this problem too, but only when I use certain lighting renderings in Elements 7. I'm not sure what sort of editing you're doing to cause the bands, but I have found that if I only render lighting changes on photos w/o vast sky, then the bands don't show at all. I don't think there's anyway to avoid it showing on skies. I know, I'm a huge help, right? :cry

Dogdots wrote:

What am I doing wrong -- when I edit sometimes I get bands in the sky. Sometimes I notice it even before I edit or notice it more after running my noiseware.

Winter is coming and it seems to really show up on my winter photos. I hope someone can help me with this.

Thanks

Dogdots · October 14, 2009

GoofBckt wrote:

Hi Mary Kim. I have had this problem too, but only when I use certain lighting renderings in Elements 7. I'm not sure what sort of editing you're doing to cause the bands, but I have found that if I only render lighting changes on photos w/o vast sky, then the bands don't show at all. I don't think there's anyway to avoid it showing on skies. I know, I'm a huge help, right? :cry

Hello Carrie --

I'm about ready to just cut out my skies -- or never shoot a sky in a photo again

Sure would make life easier.

I notice it when I lighten up a photo or darken it. So light has a lot to play in it. I wonder if it has a lot to do to with the settings on the camera...I'm sure I'm not getting it right "in camera" first :cry

Hopefully someone will come along and post the "miracle" answer to the problem and our skies will be beautiful

Hey...how are things going? Winter there yet

We are getting snow...it's beautiful, but oh...so many months of that white stuff to look forward too is almost depressing.

pathfinder · October 15, 2009

Mary, banding frequently occurs when editing a computer added gradient to an image.

An easy remedy, is to add just a bit of noise to the banded area of the sky - this helps to create more even gradients, and hide the noise. Not enough noise to see, but just to hide the banding.

Select your sky, and go to Filter> Noise > Add Noise and add a small amount of Gaussian noise - this will frequently hide the banding.

BinaryFx · October 15, 2009

Many banding issues are only due to monitor display issues, there is no banding in the file. Do the bands remain at different zoom levels or do they move around changing location with the zoom or 90degree rotation etc?

Using the info palette, one can sometimes see if numerical values skip when mousing over the bands. This indicates if the banding is actually in the file.

Sometimes edits introduce banding.

That old phrase "it all depends" usually pops up in these discussions.

Regards,

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

pathfinder · October 15, 2009

BinaryFx wrote:

Many banding issues are only due to monitor display issues, there is no banding in the file. Do the bands remain at different zoom levels or do they move around changing location with the zoom or 90degree rotation etc?

Using the info palette, one can sometimes see if numerical values skip when mousing over the bands. This indicates if the banding is actually in the file.

Sometimes edits introduce banding.

That old phrase "it all depends" usually pops up in these discussions.

Regards,

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

Excellent points Stephen. Ultimately, is the banding seen in a final print?

Dogdots · October 15, 2009

Hi Stephen and pathfinder --

Thank you for the wonderful help

I noicte it when I edit, but never thought of checking out the numerical values...good idea. Never thought either that if I see it on the screen I might not see it in print. Since I don't print out my own photos I've never printed anything that I've had issues with banding.

Yes the bands do move around when I zoom in and out. They also change after I de-noise a photo too -- as in get worse. I notice that when I lower the opacity the banding gets better, but moves. That would go to the "add some noise" ... duh....I'm so slow sometimes

I'll play around with your suggestions and hopefully a few photos will be saved.

Thanks again

jamesl · October 15, 2009

Sounds like it could definately be your monitor, as others have suggested. Do you have a flat panel, or are you working from a laptop? Also, do you have the color bit of your desktop set to 32 bit?

For editting, I've noticed that creating tone mapped HDR images, as well as using the Shadows and Highlight tool will create banding in areas like the sky.

James

Dogdots · October 15, 2009

jamesl wrote:

Sounds like it could definately be your monitor, as others have suggested. Do you have a flat panel, or are you working from a laptop? Also, do you have the color bit of your desktop set to 32 bit?

For editting, I've noticed that creating tone mapped HDR images, as well as using the Shadows and Highlight tool will create banding in areas like the sky.

James

Hi James

Yep, I have a flat panel monitor -- Dell 2209WA. I don't work off my laptop. And yes my desktop is set to 32bit too.

I'm starting to think its my editing skills most of the times. Maybe I'm pushing it to far :cry

Can the direction of the sun and how I'm standing play into the banding? Would the direction make the banding happen more so then if I were facing another direction. Ex. if the sun is to my left, but if I moved more to the right the banding would be less...does this make any sense???? I'm thinking maybe the rays of the sunlight may hit harder into the photo then in other photos. Dang...I'm confusing myself writing this

Banding in the sky

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