Finally a gradient banding fix that works (really well)?

[Custom_Grafx]

I've looked at heaps of different ways to reduce banding - the noise layerl, blur, etc etc. They work, but sometimes not entirely.

This method, is quite unique, and gave me a pretty good understanding of what's going on and how the fix works.

I'm just a versaworks user, so I'm limited to 8 bit tiffs which only make my problems worse, but as you will see in the link, it doesn't really make a difference if your RIP is 8 or 16 bit, it's whether or not the data was made in 8 or 16 bit mode in PS (I think? please correct me if I'm wrong.)

From what I understand in the tutorial, if your image/data was created in 8bit, then having a 16bit RIP won't help. Is this true? Kind of like trying to get better resolution from a bitmap by upscaling a low-res?

Anyway, thought this might come in handy so posted it.

Technical people will enjoy it I think, as it goes into some detail.

http://trojankitten.posterous.com/suddenly-a-photoshop-tutorial-avoiding-gradie

 

[Mainframe]

Cool, thanks for the link!

 

[JoshLoring]

I had a client once want a perfect white to black gradient on a vehicle and I had no problem printing it without gradient lines or banding. ( or green!)
Created the file in 16bit > made gradient RGB 0 0 0 to 255 255 255> flattened image > converted to 8 bit > ripped and printed from RGB. Perfect. Roland XC-540 from versaworks.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

I just did a file like that Josh, and zooming up can see banding. The fix in the link takes care of it though.

I haven't had too much trouble with this, but I now know to work in 16 bit when editing my NEFs! I did a vignette on one and printed and woah... radial banding big time. I tried again in 16bit, and gone. I guess most of the problem is taken care of simply by working in 16bit then? If you're working from VW and no banding, then must be the case.

 

[JoshLoring]

Are you seeing it on screen or in print? Sometimes I see it on screen- but once the ink lays down it goes away. Try a little pint sample.

 

[JoshLoring]

Try a little pint sample.

I mean print. Lol

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Lol - too late for pints... Monday morning is here!

On both screen and print.

Here is an example after applying a lens vignette in 8bit RGB.

I go into 16bit mode, apply the same filter, and banding is hardly there... tried what you said - "flattened" it and went back into 8bit... wasn't there as much. But yeah the Linear light "magic grey layer" of 1% / 19% really works as bizarre as that read was!

 

[Custom_Grafx]

This is the whole photo FYI. An actual shot I took of the golden temple Kinkakuji in Kyoto last year. Was playing around with it to practice the mini model look achieved by playing with contrast/colour and dof. It works better with some photos more than others. I really enjoyed it there - what a beautiful place.

 

[JoshLoring]

Sweet! Haha- I love making miniature photos and grey job on that one!

Next time try 32 bit then to 16 and 8. There's a way to avoid gradient lines without the filters in that article. I've done it many times but im just not at the office to look at my actions pallete. Your always going to get them in illustrator due to the vector nature of the gradients but can avoid them in PS.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Thanks yeah I'll keep playing with it. Looks like there are plenty of ways when you google search the topic. Such a big topic...