Banding in Photoshop when using blend mode of lighten or darken, and ACR & or Lr

[BRPhotography]

Hi, I'm having problems with Photoshop CS6. I'm also using Lightroom 5.7 and Adobe Camera Raw 8.7. I'm running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit and a Zotiac Nivida GeForce GT 640. Extra specs: Intel Core i7 3.5 GHz quad core and 32 GB 1600 MHz RAM. Camera: Nikon D610. Happens with all my lenses.
Okay, now to the problem...

I'm having a problem with the Lighten and Darken blend modes in CS6. Once I merge the layer it gets these weird bands. It is fine until I merge the layers together or export; unless you zoom in with a blend mode of lighten, then it shows in full detail, oddly enough. I bring my raw files into Lightroom 5, edit, save as highest quality JPEG and then open in Photoshop. I have tried different combinations of pictures and have reset Photoshop's settings. I've never had this problem before. See DSC_7661-1.
I talked to someone on the Adobe forums and they suggested using 16 bit. I did just that. Used Camera Raw this time and had it set to open as 16 bit. Same issue. See flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/benjaminrootphotography/3Q1i85

Soooo, just out of curiosity, I decided to not edit the Raw NEF at all. Loaded into stacks and used Lighten and merged. What? No lines? See Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/benjaminrootphotography/J4GX43
I also used startrails exe with edited NEFs saved as JPEGs from both Camera Raw and Lightroom with the same banded result.

The Adobe forum member suggested I try here and see what you guys might have.

I previously used a Nikon D3200 and Lightroom 4. I had to upgrade to Lr 5 for D610 Raw file support.

Thank you very much for any input you may have!

Benjamin

Quick update: Just tried with my D3200 and got the same results

[digitaldog]

Banding can be introduced by the display or it can be in the document. IF you see this banding in 16-bit data (high bit), dollars to doughnuts it’s banding caused by the display system and not in the data file.

[BRPhotography]

Thank you for your reply. I don't think it's my screen; I've sent to others and they got the same result.

[digitaldog]

Thank you for your reply. I don't think it's my screen; I've sent to others and they got the same result.

If they are not using a high bit panel, they might see the same banding as you do.
Here’s what I suggest. Crop a small area. Flatten (that’s kind of important too, the artifacts could be due again to how PS is displaying your data). Post a link, let us look it over. There isn’t going to be any banding due to a display on my NEC SpectraView.
Again, it’s very, very unlikely there’s banding in the data if you do have a high bit file. It‘s far more likely it‘s a display issue in which case you have nothing to worry about other than getting a much better display  

[BRPhotography]

Here is a sample taken with my D3200 just a few minutes ago with the exact same pattern.
Let me know

[digitaldog]

That's not going to fly (a JPEG). We need a section of the actual high res, high bit file.

[BRPhotography]

Okay. Is a 16 bit Tiff fine?

Thank you,

Benjamin

It will be a minute or two. Couple hundred MB uploading to Dropbox now. I assumed 16 bit Tiff would be fine

[BRPhotography]

Okay, here is the cropped section in 16 bit Tiff: https://www.dropbox.com/s/00s1pu81bug42s1/DSC_8989%20cropped.tif?dl=0

The un-cropped image is still uploading.
One more thing I ought to mention is that I have been running the same monitor since before having this issue. It's a 22" LED backlit ViewSonic. Not the best, I know.

Please let me know if you need any more information or files...

Thank you!

[Dale Villeponteaux]

It seems the problem is in Photoshop. Have you tried re-installing?

Regards
Dale

[BRPhotography]

Thank you for your input. I have not re-installed, though I did do a reset. Do you think it is a Photoshop or Camera Raw/Lightroom problem? When I didn't edit and just opened the raw files in Photoshop layers, everything was fine..
Here is the full size Tiff: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ts29yqgr7r0paai/DSC_8989.tif?dl=0

[BRPhotography]

I am going to start uploading a few of the Edited DNG Raw files for anyone interested.

Thank you everyone. 

[BRPhotography]

Here is the Dropbox link to ten Raw files: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/07zpnmp0fa2m85l/AAAbSZgmdxEVnhDKkNj_78S_a?dl=0
They were shot in NEF (Nikon D610), edited in Lightroom, and exported as DNG. That is all. If I use these, the bands occur; if I reset the DNG to original Raw state, the bands do not occur. The same is true using my D3200.

[digitaldog]

I see what you are referring to as banding but I suspect that's part of the actual capture and it's only visible to me in the sky area. I don't see it in the area below the sky and I've added a rectangle marquee to it and the sky and both lightened and darkened it using Levels to better view what's going on. Again, I don't see it below the sky so I suspect it's something you actually captured. It's important to view this at 100% too. Zooming out makes the 'circles' look worse due to how Photoshop handles zoomed out previews.

Further, do you see this effect on other images? If you captured say just a gray card? Or even a black capture (lens cap on)? IF you do, then perhaps it is something amiss with your camera. IF you only see it in this night capture, then it's something the camera recorded. It doesn't look like the typical banding one sees with lower bit data (you can emulate banding by using the Posterize command).

[BRPhotography]

I see what you are referring to as banding but I suspect that's part of the actual capture and it's only visible to me in the sky area. I don't see it in the area below the sky and I've added a rectangle marquee to it and the sky and both lightened and darkened it using Levels to better view what's going on. Again, I don't see it below the sky so I suspect it's something you actually captured. It's important to view this at 100% too. Zooming out makes the 'circles' look worse due to how Photoshop handles zoomed out previews.

Further, do you see this effect on other images? If you captured say just a gray card? Or even a black capture (lens cap on)? IF you do, then perhaps it is something amiss with your camera. IF you only see it in this night capture, then it's something the camera recorded. It doesn't look like the typical banding one sees with lower bit data (you can emulate banding by using the Posterize command).

Yes, I can see it on other images. I can also see it when I use my other camera, and the pattern is exactly identical. I can also see it on the black outer part (the aperture blades).

[digitaldog]

Yes, I can see it on other images.

Again, I'd setup a capture of something smooth and flat like a gray card and let us look at it. This isn't Kosher, something is wrong.

I can also see it when I use my other camera, and the pattern is exactly identical.

Very strange! Were both subject to some identical hardship?

[BRPhotography]

Very strange! Were both subject to some identical hardship?

No, not really. One was inside the house, today. The other was outside last night and it was only 20° F.

[digitaldog]

Any chance a common attribute of all captures from both cameras that exhibit this issue is the same lens?

[BRPhotography]

And this hasn't happened before. It was after updating to Lightroom 5 and Camera Raw 8.7

[BRPhotography]

Any chance a common attribute of all captures from both cameras that exhibit this issue is the same lens?

I have tried a different lens with the same result... Focal length was different too

[digitaldog]

And this hasn't happened before. It was after updating to Lightroom 5 and Camera Raw 8.7

So maybe next step is to post a raw or DNG. Again, something as smooth as possible, say ISO 100.