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Author Topic: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?  (Read 11210 times)

tsinsf

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How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« on: February 04, 2012, 01:10:53 am »

Not infrequently I get a white fringe between sky and land, even before darkening the sky and sharpening. Any thoughts about what causes this, how to avoid it, and how to deal with it in Photoshop or Lightroom?

I shoot with a Canon 5d Mark 2, a variety of L lenses, and only shoot RAW.

Thanks!!
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bill t.

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2012, 01:30:38 am »

You'll get the best answers if you post an example.  All that's needed is a crop.

But to make a WAG, heavy use of the Lightroom "Fill Light" slider tends to create fringe-like artifacts at high contrast transitions.  Among other things.
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Jack Varney

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2012, 08:14:40 pm »

Part of this effect is that as you look to the horizon, this is usually where the sky meets the mountains, you are looking through a much deeper layer of atmosphere which scatters the light to a greater extent. On a clear day the sky always appears a deeper blue immediately above than it does at the horizon.
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Jack Varney

NikoJorj

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2012, 04:34:20 am »

In LR3, Clarity can also produce halos ; but as said an example of the problem, together with the steps that led to it, would help us to help you.
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Nicolas from Grenoble
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bwana

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2012, 11:05:41 pm »

here's a fringe on the right half of the image between the mountain and the sky. how best to get rid of it?
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daws

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2012, 12:13:55 am »

here's a fringe on the right half of the image between the mountain and the sky. how best to get rid of it?

For me, the easiest method to deal with a simple edge-halo like that is to clone it out on a new layer. I'd do the same with the mountain on the left.

And if you wanted to get obsessive like me, zoom in to 400-500% or so, get your clone brush down to 3 pixels and 50% softness, and clean up the halo on the treeline below the hill on the left.

The downside of this approach is that doing it really well can become a time-sucker. The upside is the satisfaction of physically cleaning up your photograph and having the result be as close to perfect as you can make it.
« Last Edit: February 14, 2012, 12:41:00 am by daws »
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Steve Weldon

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2012, 12:41:17 am »

here's a fringe on the right half of the image between the mountain and the sky. how best to get rid of it?
A better question would be how to prevent it.  Any 'edge' between highlights (usually the sky/clouds) and mid or low tones.. will produce an edge, and often fringing.  If you're using localized editing and decreasing the exposure of a sky for instance, then it will really stand out.  There are several software solutions, but I think it's best to do as much 'in camera' as possible.  Reduce skies with ND's when possible vs. software.. And try to use smaller apertures which approach but doesn't induce diffraction.  Wider apertures result in more fringing. 
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leuallen

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2012, 01:33:23 am »

bwana,

I would use the stamp tool set to darken (brush not layer). I would use an opacity of about 30% and pick a sample area in the gray area just above the fringing. I generally don't use aligned and sample frequently but aligned would work in this case for the right mountains. Use a soft large brush. You don't have to be too careful because the darken mode will not effect the darker mountain area. Darken only darkens if the area it is applied to is lighter than the sample area, it has no effect if the applied area is darker. Build up the density gradually until it looks good. Work on a copy layer above the original layer.

I get good results with this tool but I have lots of practice retouching using the brush and use a tablet,

Larry
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rambler44

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2012, 01:51:47 pm »

Okay, try this one in Camera Raw.   Select the Adjustment Brush tool (K) which is the 10th icon from the right.

In the slider box click on the minus sign under brightness a couple of times, then drag the cursor along the joining line in your image.  This should darken the light area.  Get the circle of the cursor quite large.  You will see a + inside a solid line circle and a dotted line circle.  Only what the + touches will get darker, if the plus sign hits areas you do not want darkened, the plus sign will darken the area.  In other words it is okay if the circles cross the dividing line, but try to avoid having the plus sign cross over.  The circles give you plenty of warning and allow you to move and bounce the cursor along quickly.

Once you have it darkened once, now go back and play with the brightness and exposure sliders to darken or lighten your work.

You could also try just the opposite and lighten up the dark line of the hills.

To show what you have worked over just check the "Show Mask" square and you can select a color if you wish.  If you click on a pin with a black dot, the results will show, too.


This tool is a good way to lighten up or darken an area of an image quickly using Camera Raw.
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NikoJorj

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Re: How to avoid white fringe between sky and land?
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2012, 05:02:43 am »

here's a fringe on the right half of the image between the mountain and the sky. how best to get rid of it?
Do not sharpen too much... The fringe seems as a sharpening artifact to me.
Re-develop your raw file with less sharpening, or better yet sharpening settings that produce less halos (in Camera Raw or Lightroom : lower Detail, lower radius).
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Nicolas from Grenoble
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