Black and white sky forming rainbow layers.

[thaveechais19574275]

Hello friends, when I edit my black and white photos in Photoshop I always end up getting sky in rainbow layers like in the attached photo. Is there a good way of removing the layers or making them flat or anything else could be done. Thank you all kindly in advance for your help.

[Myra Ferguson]

Gradient banding is what happens when there isn't enough tonal range for the different colors in a gradient. You can fix it by increasing the image from 8 bit to 16 bit and applying a blur to the selected gradient. Here's an article I found that describes the issue more and gives steps for fixing it.

[thaveechais19574275]

Thank you Myra, I think it really helped. I tried one two different occassions and both came out well. Thank you very much. 

[Semaphoric]

Try selecting the sky, and add a small amout of noise.

[thaveechais19574275]

Semaphoric, the combination of 16 bit and blur with little noise as suggested by Myra seems to work well. Thank you. 

[davescm]

Hi

First off work in 16 bits per channel which will avoid banding, however you may still see banding on your screen if you are not using a 10 bit monitor. That is on your display only though not in your image.

As suggested by Semaphoric, adding a little noise is effective at reducing banding if you are forced to work in 8 bits/channel

Dave

[thaveechais19574275]

Hello Dave, I tried 16 bit editing and blur around banding areas, it seems to be working for me so far mate, really appreciate. Cheers.