Help Files Camera and Photography Forum

For general camera equipment and photography technique questions. Moderated by another view. Also see the Learn section, Camera Reviews, Photography Lessons, and Glossary of Photo Terms.
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Banding

  1. #1
    Senior Member hminx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    2,154

    Banding

    Anyone have any idea as to the cause of the banding in the sky in this shot . Could it be a lens issue. Only seems to be apparent on a solid white background. Any thoughts appreciated.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Banding-tree.jpg  
    Pete

    Isn't it a cool thing in nature that the colours never seem to clash...

    I have no issues with you editing my photos

  2. #2
    Senior Shooter Greg McCary's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Rome Ga.
    Posts
    10,550

    Re: Banding

    I don't see it here, could be my monitor but banding can be seen when exposure is way off or at higher ISO's. To be honest I have only seen it in dark's before at higher iso's. You can push an exposure to much in processing and also get it.
    I am like Barney Fife, I have a gun but Andy makes me keep the bullet in my pocket..

    Sony a99/a7R

  3. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Athens, Greece
    Posts
    42

    Re: Banding

    I see some banding, but you have to look very carefully to see it (at least on my monitor).
    Did you do any PP in the image? Could you post the EXIF to see if something is wrong with the settings of your camera?
    The picture seems overexposed. This is possible if the metering system get whacked of from the lighting conditions and did not get the exposure correctly (did happen to me a few months back).
    Also to be precise, the sky isn't solid white! There are cloud formations that can be seen as banding!
    Chris

    Current Gear:
    Olympus E-3
    Zuiko 14-54 mk II f2.8-3.5
    FL50R flash
    HLD-4 Battery grip
    RM-CB1 remote cable release
    Vanguard Alta+ 264AP tripod with PH-32 head
    Cullmann Ministativ DIGI-POD long (50008) tripod
    E-System Pro Backpack

  4. #4
    Senior Member hminx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    2,154

    Re: Banding

    Thanks guys I have also noticed this same effect, but a bit more pronounced, in a couple of shots with marginal light. I wonder if it is caused by trying to drag to much out of an under exposed shot ?
    Pete

    Isn't it a cool thing in nature that the colours never seem to clash...

    I have no issues with you editing my photos

  5. #5
    Senior Member Medley's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Hillsboro, OR, USA
    Posts
    919

    Re: Banding

    Most of the time that I've seen banding in highlights, it was usually a function of color conversion. My suggestion is to open Photoshop (I assume you're using PS), get into your color settings, and change the rendering intent from Relative Colorimetric to Perceptual. Also, check the Use Dithering box. Then reopen the original image, and see if you still have the banding.

    The Relative Colorimetric rendering intent maps the white point of the source image to the white point of the color space (ie- it changes the white point). Then it finds the closest match for any pixels outside the gamut of the destination color space. This could be the cause of your banding, if a lot of the pixels in the sky were outside the gamut.

    The Perceptual rendering intent simply tries to reduce the saturation of the image until all the pixels are within the gamut. You'll probably get a noticeable shift in saturation, but it preserves the relationship with all the pixels in the image. It's useful when a large portion of the image is out of gamut.

    Hope this helps,

    - Joe U.
    I have no intention of tiptoeing through life only to arrive safely at death.

  6. #6
    Powder River Imaging EOSThree's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Like no place on earth
    Posts
    1,327

    Re: Banding

    It took me looking at an extreme angle to see what you are talking about. This looks like classic posterization, ie. not enough information (color space) spread over too much area. In other words too few colors for the natural sky gradient.

    I am guessing this was shot in JPEG and not RAW. If it was shot in RAW the conversion to JPEG, or editing as a JPEG caused this. This happens when conversion or editing causes too few tones to be spread too far apart.

    To stop this from happening:

    minimize editing, JPEGs don't do well when edited, sometimes even small amounts of editing will cause troubles.

    use RAW this will increase the number of tones available.

    use your exposure to maximize the number of tones available.

    A carefully used gausian blur in the luminance channel or the red channel will eliminate a lot of posterization. But remember every time you edit a JPEG you are losing information. I recommend converting a copy or your JPEG to a TIFF file to do your editing. TIFF is lossless. When you are through with your edits convert the image back to a JPEG for printing or posting.
    Rule books are paper they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal. --Ernie Gann--
    What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. --Oscar Wilde--

  7. #7
    mod squad gahspidy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    N.Y. U.S.A.
    Posts
    8,368

    Re: Banding

    Yes, you will get this usually when there is a large surface of very slight gradations in tone and color most commonly the open sky. Easier to see the effects in darker skies or saturated blues.
    Joe and EOSThree have some good points for you. This is most commonly seen when exposure is under or when a jpeg has been edited a few times and saved over again. Shooting RAW and/or converting as a 16bit TIFF or PSD file will go a long way to reducing this from happening even after heavy editing.
    please do not edit and repost my photos


    gary


  8. #8
    Senior Member freygr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Portland, OR, USA
    Posts
    2,522

    Re: Banding

    Quote Originally Posted by hminx
    Anyone have any idea as to the cause of the banding in the sky in this shot . Could it be a lens issue. Only seems to be apparent on a solid white background. Any thoughts appreciated.
    It's the JPG compression. You have to save as RAW, Tiff, or set the JPG to fine to not have banding(even in fine you can have banding).
    GRF

    Panorama Madness:

    Nikon D800, 50mm F1.4D AF, 16-35mm, 28-200mm & 70-300mm

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •