# Banding concerns. What am I doing wrong?



## sanj (Sep 22, 2013)

I am attaching two versions of the same photo - untouched RAW (size reduced) and processed (size reduced).
The processed photo, on size reduction, has BAD banding in the dark areas. My processing values a (Camera Raw) are:
Contast +34, Vibrance +30, Saturation +8. Blue Saturation +24. Also brightened the eyes. 
Rest are ALL untouched. 
What am I doing wrong to get the banding? Hope my camera is able to handle such non severe processing?? 
I hope it is me and not the camera. If it is the camera, I do not know what to say.


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## privatebydesign (Sep 22, 2013)

You are choosing too low a value in quality at your save as jpeg step.

It is called posterization and is very common, it has nothing to do with camera settings or your other processing. Do it again but save the jpeg at over 80% quality, sometimes you even need to use 100%.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/posterization.htm


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## sanj (Sep 22, 2013)

New Processing: 
Contrast +34
Vibrance + 10
Saturation + 4
Blue Saturation +10


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## sanj (Sep 22, 2013)

privatebydesign said:


> You are choosing too low a value in quality at your save as jpeg step.
> 
> It is called posterization and is very common, it has nothing to do with camera settings or your other processing. Do it again but save the jpeg at over 80% quality, sometimes you even need to use 100%.
> 
> http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/posterization.htm



Thx for your prompt reply. 
I saved the jpeg at 75% quality.
I have attached another photo with less processing and the problem seems to be reduced. This new photo was saved at same - 75% quality.
THX.


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## verysimplejason (Sep 22, 2013)

sanj said:


> privatebydesign said:
> 
> 
> > You are choosing too low a value in quality at your save as jpeg step.
> ...



Why not use 100% quality? You can reduce it later if you want it smaller via other tool. I'm using PIXRESIZER to re-size the images for web use. Don't reduce the photo during conversion from raw to JPEG. It will degrade your output. Also, I've noticed that your photo is a little bit underexposed. You might want to use ETTR. It'll help you when you're processing the shadows and highlights. If it's too hard to meter due to high contrast situations, use spot metering + histogram to make sure that highlights isn't clipped.


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## Marsu42 (Sep 22, 2013)

sanj said:


> I am attaching two versions of the same photo - untouched RAW (size reduced) and processed (size reduced).



The ACR jpeg values aren't the same as in other image processing software, higher values are complete overkill except for cases with gradients - you happend to have this case.

* Read this: http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/jpeg-quality

* Use this on your own shots: http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/export-quality-tester


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## sanj (Sep 22, 2013)

LOVE this forum!
Thank you all.


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## sanj (Sep 23, 2013)

BUT one question remains a mystery: When I upload all three pictures after reducing sizes almost exactly, why does the processed photo show degradation?


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## privatebydesign (Sep 23, 2013)

sanj said:


> BUT one question remains a mystery: When I upload all three pictures after reducing sizes almost exactly, why does the processed photo show degradation?



Because in processing it you compressed the blues into a smaller space (they range from same lightness to darker and are MUCH more saturated), because a broader range of colours and tones are "squashed" into the same space when they are rendered to jpeg the bigger range has overstretched the space allotted for it within the rendering algorithm and quality size. Increase the size of the file and the posterization reduces because the broader blue transition is given more space to render smoothly.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 23, 2013)

I copied your greatly reduced unretouched jpeg image and applied the settings you listed in lightroom and uploaded it to my smug mug account. Since this is processing a jpeg image, I'd think it would be worse. If you want to post the original raw image to drop box, I can try it and see.
Obviously, applying the settings you listed to a reduced jpeg does not give the same image.


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