Banding in Black and White

[Hector1970]

Hi All,
I was wondering if there is anyone who might give me some advice.
I like doing long exposures but at times I don't have time to be waiting for a few minutes.
I might take a shot of the sky convert it to black and white with Sliver Efex Pro.
I then might use a blur (motion) filter to give that impression of the sky moving.
I then replace the sky in the original with the blurred sky.
I flatten the image and convert to black and white and maybe use the clarity slider.

What I end up often is with Banding.
The image I start with is Raw so I don't deliberately reduced it to 8 bit.
When I zoom in it looks fine , it just looks banded as you go backwards zooming out.
I think I detect colour in the BW.

Can cleaning a sensor cause banding?
Is banding real or just a screen issue.
Am I over processing using Silver Efex Pro (does it change the picture to 8 bit?)
Do you see any flaw in my workflow?

 

[Hector1970]

Just accidently came upon something.
I'm not sure if banding and posterisation is the same thing.


http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/posterization.htm

I am experiencing something like that. It's mainly in the sky.
Where there's detail there isn't an impact

Kind Regards
Fergal

 

[YuengLinger]

Do you see banding in prints?

Can you see the banding in a RAW file after heavy manipulation? Or just Silver Efex?

 

[meli]

When I zoom in it looks fine , it just looks banded as you go backwards zooming out.

Sounds like a monitor thing rather than the file itself. Try replicating the gradient in a new file. Typical monitors do present posterization in some cases.

 

[Hector1970]

Thanks Yueng / Meli,
I'll experiment. I've a new monitor. I'll see if it makes a difference.

 

[jmoya]

Expose properly.

 

[Valvebounce]

First post here and so helpful, if only we could all be as perfect. Welcome to the forum.

Expose properly.

 

[dak723]

The more manipulating you do, the more chance of something unwanted occurring. Is there banding in your original RAW file? if not, I would do one step at a time in your workflow and check after each step. Then you might discover which action is causing the problem - if it is not a monitor/display issue.