Fixing color rings, post processing

[ScubaJill]

After viewing my photos from a recent trip to Cozumel, I realized that my red filter created rings of color. I've been playing around in Photoshop and Lightroom, but I haven't yet found a way to fix this issue. Any ideas?

The photo below shows the rings.

View media item 202385

 

[Hoag]

After viewing my photos from a recent trip to Cozumel, I realized that my red filter created rings of color. I've been playing around in Photoshop and Lightroom, but I haven't yet found a way to fix this issue. Any ideas?

The photo below shows the rings.

View media item 202385

Are you asking about the noticeable shifts from one "colour" of blue to another?

 

[ScubaJill]

Are you asking about the noticeable shifts from one "colour" of blue to another?

Yes.

 

[Hoag]

I don't think that they have anything to do with your red filter. I think that they may be due to the format that you are shooting in and possibly the "bit depth" you are using. What it looks like is that you may shooting (or at least saving) in jpeg with 8-bit colour depth. This problem can be made worse by saving it in a low resolution format.

Since you mentioned PS, try opening the image in PS. Then, along the top tool bar click on Image > Mode and it should tell you what the colour bit-depth is. If it is "8-bit", that can be a source of the problem.

If you originally shot the image in RAW, open the original and take a look at it.

 

[_Ralph]

What kind of camera? It almost looks like a reflection of the zoom lens of a compact camera ....


_R

 

[ScubaJill]

I don't think that they have anything to do with your red filter. I think that they may be due to the format that you are shooting in and possibly the "bit depth" you are using. What it looks like is that you may shooting (or at least saving) in jpeg with 8-bit colour depth. This problem can be made worse by saving it in a low resolution format.

Since you mentioned PS, try opening the image in PS. Then, along the top tool bar click on Image > Mode and it should tell you what the colour bit-depth is. If it is "8-bit", that can be a source of the problem.

If you originally shot the image in RAW, open the original and take a look at it.

I'm shooting in RAW+JPEG. I save in JPEG when I'm exporting from Lightroom. I'll pull this up tonight and check it out.

What kind of camera? It almost looks like a reflection of the zoom lens of a compact camera ....

_R

Ralph, I think you're on to something. It's a Sony Alpha 5000 with a zoom lens.

 

[diversteve]

I'm guessing you're aware of this but every time you re-save the image in jpeg format, the banding will get a little more pronounced due to the compression being applied.

 

[ScubaJill]

I'm guessing you're aware of this but every time you re-save the image in jpeg format, the banding will get a little more pronounced due to the compression being applied.

Yup. Though it's a good reminder to go back into the software if I want to make any changes to the photographs.

 

[Hoag]

@ScubaJill, I was just thinking about this. Next time you have a few minutes, go to your original RAW file, and open it in Lightroom. Do some editing to it if required, but instead of saving (Exporting) it as a jpeg, try doing it as a TIFF file. Keep in mind that TIFF files tend to be very big files, but they are "lossless" in their format. Try that and see if the issue is still there.

 

[kelemvor]

@ScubaJill, I was just thinking about this. Next time you have a few minutes, go to your original RAW file, and open it in Lightroom. Do some editing to it if required, but instead of saving (Exporting) it as a jpeg, try doing it as a TIFF file. Keep in mind that TIFF files tend to be very big files, but they are "lossless" in their format. Try that and see if the issue is still there.

Photoshop supports using lossy jpeg compression when saving a TIFF. She'll have to make sure to avoid doing that. LZW and ZIP compression for TIFF is also available in PS, both are lossless.