Removing banding around feathered photos–there’s got to be an easier way!

K
Posted By
Krysti
Apr 27, 2005
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918
Replies
7
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Closed
I thought I had this figured out, but am still struggling. Working in Photoshop 7.0, using 300 dpi photo, printing on Epson R800.

After I feather the edges of a photo, there’s a "banding" that appears all around near where the photo begins to feather. It’s especially apparent if the photo is dark. I’ve tried blurring, increasing and decreasing the number of pixels that are feathered, using adjustment layers to blur and/or erase…nothing seems to hide the banding from my critical eye when it’s printed.

The most success I’ve had is to use the clone tool and work my way around the the banding area of the entire photo–this takes forever–too long for the amount of photos I need to print! And even with the clone tool I can see banding…very frustrating!

Does anyone have any suggestions for this?
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PH
Photo_Help
Apr 27, 2005
Krysti,

Are you just feathering a selection?

Can you see the problem on screen or only on the print?
K
Krysti
Apr 28, 2005
I am feathering just a selection–usually made with the lasso tool going around the perimeter of the photo (I use lasso because I don’t want a straight rectangle, I like a little uneven-ness.) The majority of the time I can see the banding on screen. Photos with light backgrounds I don’t see the banding on screen, but it ends up visible in print.
K
Krysti
May 14, 2005
Just wondering if anyone might have suggestions for me on the above problem? I have not yet solved this… thanks
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
May 14, 2005
You might want to create a mask and then add some noise to the transition range to create a dithered pattern. The problem is that there are only a limited number of gray levels in the shadows or highlights, so a transition from black to white will show banding unless you add noise.
C
chrisjbirchall
May 14, 2005
Krysti. From your description I guess you are vignetting the image by making a selection, feathering, inverting the selection, then either darkening or lightening the edges depending upon the whether the image is high key or low key.

And the problem is a ‘banding’ effect on the transition area between the image and the darker/lighter perimeter?

Unfortunately this can happen in Photoshop, especially on low key images – and unfortunately the effect become even more pronounced when printing to an inkjet. (the same image printed RA4 by a photo lab will show far less banding)

This is how I have got around the problem:

1: Work in 16 bit. This would mean upgrading from PS7 to CS2, but believe me the transitions are so much smoother at the greater bit depth.

2: Use as high a feathering setting as you possibly can. On an A4 300ppi image I would normally set the feathering to 220 (less for a high key iamge)

3: Darken/lighten the vignette using the lightness slider in the Hue/Saturation dialogue. Levels will increase the cxontrast which will only add to the banding problem.

4: After darkening the selection add noise (Filter>Noise>Add Noise). the best way to do this is to add too much noise, then use the Fade control (Edit>Fade) to reduce the noise to a level were it just eliminates the banding.

All of these will help. The upgrade to allow 16 bit editing being the most beneficial. (And I guarantee that after a few days you’ll be blown away by the advances which have been made sice PS7!)

Best of luck with it.

Chris.
C
Corey
May 15, 2005
Sometimes, when I remove a background with a feathered selection, I press the Delete Key to remove the pixels within the selection. Depending on the degree of the feathering, repeated pressing of the Delete Key can remove the annoying banding without adversely affecting the retained pixels.

Peadge 🙂

wrote in message
Just wondering if anyone might have suggestions for me on the above
problem? I have not yet solved this… thanks
K
Krysti
May 17, 2005
Thanks to both of you! I will be trying all suggestions…and looking into the cost of the upgrade.

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