Inspiring

Question

Blur and gradient banding since 23.1.1 release

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
January 22, 2022
11 replies
2159 views

Something happened with blur and gradient algorithms in the new version of Photoshop (23.1.1, Windows 10). Gaussian Blur is producing some intense banding at 16 bit:

The screenshot was brightened to show the issue, which is mostly visible in the shadows.

I tried disabling GPU, updating my GeForce RTX 2080 Studio drivers and everything else, really.

There are reports about gradient banding too:

https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshop/comments/sa6bt2/gradient_banding_intensified_recently_has_this/

Windows

This topic has been closed for replies.

davescm

Community Expert

@afterthought

A couple of things to check.

1. Open the Nvidia control panel and under display settings check that it is set to use 10 bit. You will need to do that for each monitor. I have seen that reset to 8-bit after driver updates in the past.

2. In Photoshop Preferences performance - GPU -Advanced make sure 30 bit is checked. Restart Photoshop if you change it.

If both are OK and you still have the issue, reinstall the Nvidia driver, using the Advanced, Clean Install option and repeat 1 and 2.

Dave

satup55361441

Participant

This is still interesting. If it's hardware issue, then why it has not been this visible over the years? Is it because of modern 4k screens or something? I've never worked with 10bit settings. Also that means that 90% of customers will see banding no matter what my settings are.

I did product shoot for one client at end of last year, and used gradient for every image. Some of these photos got postponed for start of this year and client mentioned that he sees banding on some images. Those images were ones that I did (added gradient etc.) this year, but no banding issues on images that I did last year.... I have intern at my studio now and he asked for his mate who works at big advertising company that have he noticed any banding. He first told that nah, no banding, but while he was on the phone he tried it and he saw banding and he was totally mind blown. Maybe he doesn't use gradients etc. at work that often.

I have windows 10 and 11 and our intern has windows 10 and we have iMac at our studio and 5 different screens where to test this. 10bit workflow and 16bit images fix this problem, but it's only fixed at my end. I can't go that route to always tell client that "you need calibrated monitors and 10bit workflow to not see banding", as this hasn't been the case at any point throughout years. I do product photography for re-sellers and you can guess their clients do not have calibrated monitors or 10bit workflow. This is interesting.

P.S. I cant recall that I had done any updating over any equipment or in windows during end of last year and start of this year. But then again, there might've been some windows update recently, I can't remember.

davescm

Community Expert

Like I said in my first post, I am using the studio driver. Doesn't help with the color depth though.

Which Eizo monitors are you using and which ports have you connected them to?

I now use an RTX3090 but previously used an RTX2080ti and had 10 bits/channel in use with the monitors connected via dataport.

Dave

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

I do see some banding on your screen shots but viewing this outside of Photoshop (on a JPEG?) isn't ideal. Point is, it should be totally smooth, no sign of any banding. That's why the file was created, to test a high bit display path. And on one, it is totally smooth. So if you were seeing totally smooth gradients in the past (viewed at 100%), then it is some hardware issue on your end. Could also be your OS (I'm not a Win guy but there have been a number of bugs reported about Win 11 display issues).

I forget to mention that your uploaded images had no embedded profile, I assigned sRGB, not that this would affect my viewing of the smoothness.

So it isn't Photoshop. Your examples are smooth on this end.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

afterthoughtAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you.

It is indeed not smooth at all on my side (I assume you will see the banding on the screenshot?):

afterthoughtAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you.

It is indeed not smooth at all on my side (I assume you will see the banding on the screenshot?):

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

I see no banding in either of your images, the one "test blur" is completely smooth appearing to me. I'm running a fully high bit display path on a Mac (high bit display, video card etc).

Here is an image to test. It should appear to you to be completely smooth. If not, your issue is somewhere in the display path and not in the data, indicating this isn't a PS issue but a hardware issue or the like:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s14f4w7dq85r7oo/10-bit-test-ramp.zip?dl=0

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

afterthoughtAuthor

Inspiring

I tried installing one of the previous Photoshop versions (22.5) and the banding didn't go away 😞 Since it was never there at the time of 22.5, it seems that it's not a Photoshop issue after all.

I am using V2 display profiles, updating them every 6 months. Just created a new one for the sake of experiment and it didn't change much (a slight difference, as always with new profiles, but not much related to the banding).

You can download a test image (a crop from a free stock converted to 16 bit TIFF) and my 16 bit TIFF blurred version of it (Gaussian Blur 220.0px) here:

https://www.dropbox.com/t/GXyv88kuS7ed7Bkw

It should look like this:

Let me know if your Gaussian Blur @ 220px of this image is banding-free.

Could be a Windows update after all. They are doing something with 'Windows HD color' and it might affect graphics rendering even if HDR is disabled.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

Can you provide a 16-bit sample (doesn't need to be too big, 500x500 pixels) to something like Dropbox so we can view the same document?

It could be a display profile issue too. Are you creating your own profiles for the display, could it be corrupted or perhaps a V4 (version 4 spec) build? If so, try a V2 version.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

davescm

Community Expert

Are you able to give more steps to replicate it as I have been unable to do so so far.

Dave

afterthoughtAuthor

Inspiring

davescm, I am also using Eizo monitors, and this screenshot was made at 150% zoom. I am fully aware of the things you pointed out. I have been using Photoshop for years and I am reporting a new behaviour.

satup55361441

Participant

Yes, that is true that Photoshop has always worked like that but I have never seen this much banding over the years of using Photoshop. 16bit/32bit doesn't solve it either and I have experienced this banding on three different computers and screens. There's something weird happening at PS, as far as I can tell. Zooming doesn't fix it and it is visible at finished image too, no matter what size that image is.

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