What The Heck Is This????

clickin girl · February 1, 2012

Hello everyone! I am having an issue with my lightening/nightime photos. What is that weird banding/pixelation in the sky? I use a 100-200 ISO, they are RAW files with very little PP, and when I use noiseware it gets rid of the grain but enhances these areas making them worse! With storm season coming up I would like to get this issue resolved. Any ideas on what is causing this or what I can do to fix it? I notice in the Digital Grin Banner on the left hand side in the purple areas it does this too. Is it just something that happens with the color?

In this Photo, lower left corner:

In this photo, the lower left corner and up the side a bit and on the right as well:

In this photo,whole left side of lightening, in clouds and everywere:

This is really frustrating, hope someone can help!!

Nikolai · February 1, 2012

I think it's your noiseware that creates banding problem.

As you are no doubt aware, if you create a pure gradient in PS you'll end up with the similar problem. The real objects are never mathematically pure and consist of pixels of slightly different colors, so together they blend into a smooth background nicely.

See if you can get rid of noiseware. In fact, I don't understand why do you have to use it to begin with - shooting lighting bolts doesn't require multiminute exposures (hardly over 10 sec, and often even less), and the noise level at this speed is typically well within acceptable parameters and it can be dealt with without creating strong banding effect.

Just my 0.00002 of the f/stop....

clickin girl · February 1, 2012

I shoot in bulb mode, opening my shutter and waiting for a bolt and then closing it. Sometimes my exposures are 30-60 secs. Should I not do this?

Nikolai · February 2, 2012

clickin girl wrote: »

I shoot in bulb mode, opening my shutter and waiting for a bolt and then closing it. Sometimes my exposures are 30-60 secs. Should I not do this?

Well, you can, but I'd simply set it on timed/repeated remote and let it go, while I'd be doing something more interesting/productive than holding the bulb depressed... Then you simply don't import those frames that are black and you're done, no fuss, nor banding.

jamesl · February 2, 2012

This looks like color compression banding to me. I typically see it show up when using Shadows and Highlights and pumping up the mid tone contrast. It can also show up when trying to work in 8 Bit vs 16 Bit from RAW.

Let's talk a bit more about your processing. Are you using Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom? What adjustments are you doing there? Do you have it set to use 16 bit? Are you doing any contrast enhancements or Shadows and Highlight work in Photoshop?

James

jamesl · February 2, 2012

Also, one more thing. Unless you have a true IPS flat panel monitor (like on an iMac or Dell 2711 or 3011) you will also see banding (dithering) that may not really be in the image. This is due to IPS being able to display 8 bit of color vs traditional TN panels only showing 6 bits. If you have an old CRT monitor laying around you can try viewing the photo on it and see if it looks better.

clickin girl · February 2, 2012

Hi James, I work in Adobe Camera Raw CS4 and 16 bit. I never mess with contrast for my lightening images no do I increase exposure. I do saturate a bit but not extensively and clarify some. That is about it other than using noiseware to clean up a little after long exposures!

jamesl · February 2, 2012

Hmm. If you want I'd be willing to process one of the RAW files and see if I get the same banding. Let me know and I'll send you my email address.

DavidTO · February 2, 2012

Which camera are you shooting with? I had an awful problem with banding on one of my 5DII images, and Marc mentioned to me that he's heard that there are a lot more banding issues on it than the 1Dseries. I couldn't touch any contrast or levels on the image without introducing the banding. I was able to increase saturation with no problem, however.

zoomer · February 2, 2012

Combination of increasing your exposure in post and noise.....is my guess....I see this a lot in skies.
In these photos it doesn't look bad...if you hadn't pointed it out...
You can remove it quickly using clone tool, brighten soft brush and whatever size the bands are. Just use kind of a circular motion and they will blend in with the surrounding area....or healing tool (not my preference)...whichever you prefer.

clickin girl · February 2, 2012

David, I shoot with the Canon 7D.

clickin girl · February 2, 2012

James, sure I don't mind sending you one and see if it is something I am doing in PP that makes it worse or if that is just the way it is!

clickin girl · February 2, 2012

Zoomer, I never thought of trying to clone it out! Hmmm.. I might give that a go and see if it helps! Thanks everyone for your input and help!

paddler4 · February 7, 2012

Have you tried long-exposure noise reduction? On my 50D, it works great, and unlike noise reduction in post, it does not lose detail or saturation. (it takes a blank image of the same duration, which is only noise, and then subtracts the noise from the original image.) if noiseware is contributing to your problem, maybe you could use long-exposure noise reduction and skip noise reduction in post.

What The Heck Is This????

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