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A
anton_7599
Participating Frequently
January 20, 2025
Question

Gradient Issue Between Camera RAW and Photoshop

  • January 20, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 2525 views

Hi everyone,

 

I hope you’re doing well. I’m reaching out because I’m experiencing an issue with the transition between Camera RAW and Photoshop, and I was hoping someone here might be able to help.

 

Here’s the situation:

I opened a RAW file from my Hasselblad camera in Camera RAW and processed it as I usually do—using light masks and making all the necessary adjustments. Everything looked great in Camera RAW, with smooth gradients in the background transitioning beautifully from white to black. However, when I opened the same file in Photoshop, the gradients didn’t appear as smooth anymore.

 

The tonal gradations, particularly in the background, seem to lose their softness in Photoshop. I’ve never encountered this issue before, and it’s happening consistently on both my Mac Studio and MacBook, so it’s not device-specific.

 

I’ve already tried several troubleshooting steps, including:

• Testing different color profiles and ensuring that both Camera RAW and Photoshop are using the same profile.

• Consulting with photographer friends, though unfortunately, no one has encountered this issue before.

 

I’ve attached two screenshots to illustrate the difference between the two programs.

 

If anyone has any insights or has experienced something similar, I’d be incredibly grateful for your advice. This issue is a bit of a mystery to me, and I’d appreciate any help you can provide.

 

Thank you so much in advance!

 

Best regards,

Anton

1 reply

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 21, 2025

I don’t know if this is the right answer, but see if it helps to use the advice in this article and the video in it…it’s about the “Precise Previews for 16-bit Documents” setting in Photoshop that was added to address banding. If that option is already enabled in your copy of Photoshop, then I don’t know what the solution it.

 

How to eliminate false banding in Photoshop (Greg Benz)

 

He calls it “false banding” because the image itself is OK, it’s smooth…the banding is only in the Photoshop preview.

A
anton_7599Author
Participating Frequently
January 21, 2025

Hey there

Thanks so much for taking your time and trying to solve my problem. I really appriciate that.

I tried every step from the link you sent. Still not the same. I think that the solution is more technical in the Adobe software. Today i had a 3 hour call with one of the technical supporters from Adobe. But still to this time there is now solution...
They are trying to figure it out. They said that it could maybe have to do with the gernal camera Raw application...

I have really no clue.


So again. Thanks so much for the help and your time.

Best regards 

Per Berntsen
Community Expert
Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 22, 2025

Thanks and sorry for using the insert button wrong. i didnt know better,

At 100 percent it looks the same. So no differences. And if I export the file in Tiff then the circle is not correct like in the Camera RAW. Unfortunatly...



You have to view the tiff at 100% as well.

This is how digital images work – you cannot expect everything to display correctly at other magnifications than 100%.

Sharpness, noise, chromatic aberration, moiré – and gradients – must be viewed at 100%.

When an image is scaled, it gets resampled, and the resampling will change the appearance of image detail.

Each application does this in its own way, so when viewing an image in different applications at the same magnification (other than 100%), it will not display the same in all the applications.

At 100% view, all applications (even basic image viewers) will display identically.

 

quote

Thanks and sorry for using the insert button wrong. i didnt know better,


By @anton_7599

 

This is not your fault - blame the designers of the forum software.

There's a very prominent Attach feature that encourages users to attach images, which makes it very awkward for other users to view them. 

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