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silk1975
Participant
September 9, 2021
Answered

Gradient banding in PS, but not in LR

  • September 9, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 881 views

hi everyone !

I see a lot of topics about banding, with screen displaying only 8 bits images and so on.

But there is one thing i dont understand. Those banding happen only in Photoshop, and not in Lightroom for the same image !

When i import my raw files in LR, they look ok without banding, but when i send them from Lightroom into Photoshop for some advanced editing (in TIFF format) my gradients suffer from banding. When i save my image and go back to LR for some final touch, the images have no more banding !!!

I dont understand what happens... Same raw materiel, same image all along my workflow, same monitor... but different render in Photoshop !

 

How can it be ? 😞

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer D Fosse

    Lightroom uses dithering to display the images. Photoshop can do that for 8-bit images (there's a checkbox in color settings) - but not for 16 bit images.

     

    In addition, a photograph will usually have just enough noise to break up banding. That's very different from a synthetic gradient in Photoshop. So it's normally not a big problem in Lightroom.

     

    And yes - as long as you're working with 16 bit data, any banding you see is in your display system.

     

    The only way to eliminate it completely is to invest in a 10 bit capable monitor/video card.

     

    EDIT: Photoshop supports 10 bit display, but Lightroom doesn't. Because of the Lr dithering some people misunderstood that. But to be clear - 10 bit display is Photoshop only.

    1 reply

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    September 9, 2021

    Lightroom uses dithering to display the images. Photoshop can do that for 8-bit images (there's a checkbox in color settings) - but not for 16 bit images.

     

    In addition, a photograph will usually have just enough noise to break up banding. That's very different from a synthetic gradient in Photoshop. So it's normally not a big problem in Lightroom.

     

    And yes - as long as you're working with 16 bit data, any banding you see is in your display system.

     

    The only way to eliminate it completely is to invest in a 10 bit capable monitor/video card.

     

    EDIT: Photoshop supports 10 bit display, but Lightroom doesn't. Because of the Lr dithering some people misunderstood that. But to be clear - 10 bit display is Photoshop only.

      CShubert
      Community Manager
      CShubertCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      September 9, 2021

      @D Fosse  is correct. Let us know if this answers your question or if you have any other issues with this.

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