Any processing tips to help prevent banding in the sky when you have a smooth fade of tones? I know my problem is the limited bit depth of the JPEG format, as no amount of blur or noise removal helps, in fact it just makes it more pronounced.
I can't post it as it's a potential challenge entry. The original image was shot as JPG, so I may be limited by that original. I can see some evidence of it in my main edit image, but only if I really look hard. When it is converted to JPEG and downsize, it becomes more visible. It's not really bad, and probably will not be noticed on many monitors, especially with a quick look, but I know it's there.
Any processing tips to help prevent banding in the sky when you have a smooth fade of tones? I know my problem is the limited bit depth of the JPEG format, as no amount of blur or noise removal helps, in fact it just makes it more pronounced.
This is so funny because I had the same problem just yesterday. I couldnt understand it. It never happened before and as smooth as the sky was I just couldnt get rid of it with any kind of noise removal tools. The noise removal did make it stand out more to.
I dont know what I did to finally make it work. I think it was less contrast in editing and a tighter crop to have some sky go away. I chose a different picture from the bunch I took that same day to but it finally looks ok.
Try viewing on a different monitor. I've found that certain images have strange amounts of banding when I downsize, especially noticeable on my laptop monitor but non-existent on my work monitor. In fact, my Ansel Adams exhibited this (strongly... after challenge I was actually going to post a screenshot of the two side by side to ask opinions). It has been doing well in voting, so in my case it seems that it was my monitor, not the photo.
I've seen the same thing happen with other skies. The question of course, is when do you know it's your monitor and when do you know it's your photo?
