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

[BRPhotography]

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

Okay, I actually did post ten DNG raw files in a previous comment. Would you like me to uss my D610 in DX (24x16 ASP-C vs 36x24) crop mode?
Also, did you catch that it doesn't happen when I reset the raw file to an un-edited state?

Ten DNGs: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/07zpnmp0fa2m85l/AAAbSZgmdxEVnhDKkNj_78S_a?dl=0

[BRPhotography]

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

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxbk3ykjn5i2t7d/DSC_9295.NEF?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g3eyzwusxqhgcb9/DSC_9296.NEF?dl=0
I didn't take extra pictures so you can use Lighten in Photoshop, but I can....

[digitaldog]

Just dragged and dropped DSC_9295.NEF onto Photoshop, it opens in ACR. I do nothing but click on Open. I see no banding. I can save it as a TIFF and upload too for you to compare to what you get.

Maybe it is your copy of the raw converter or some setting? I don’t see anything odd on the gray card.

[digitaldog]

Here’s the processed TIFF:

 http://www.digitaldog.net/files/DSC_9295.tif

Does it look clean compared to what you got?

[Redcrown]

I'm confused. I think we all are. What are the exact steps and exact images needed to produce banding?

In the first post, OP says the problem occurs when using lighten and darken blend modes.

Later, 10 DNGs show up, but no hint at which ones produce banding for the OP, in what sequence, lighten or darken? Is it all of them, some of them?

There is a pic of a door showing banding. What two or more images were blended, in what sequence and what mode, to produce that?

There is a single gray card shot. Andrew can't make it show banding all by itself. Can the OP make it show banding? If so, how?

For what it's worth, I downloaded 4 of the 10 DNG "starfield" shots. Ran them thru ACR 8.6 to Photoshop CC 2014 layers. Set the blending mode on the top 3 layers to Lighten. At 100% view I can see some slight banding, mostly in the bright area just above the horizon. If I turn off one layer, the banding is less, so I suspect if I had all 10 shots the banding would be more.

But I see the banding both before and after flattening the layer stack. Like the OP, I'm pretty confident the banding is truly in the image, not an artifact of my monitor and profile. And, like the OP, when I remove all edits (set Camera Raw default) and do it again I see no banding.

So I started backing off the edits one at a time. Luckily, I made a good first guess. I removed just the lens correction. Viola, the banding disappeared. I don't want spend more time now on further tests. Maybe the OP and others can try. But my limited test points the finger at the Nikon lens correction profile.

That does not surprise me. I've always wondered where ACR puts lens corrections in the sequence of adjustments. Is it before or after other adjustments? Does it make a difference? Maybe so.

[stamper]

As a Long time time user of blend modes I am wondering why you use darken & lighten modes? What useful purpose do they bring to your images? The books I have don't recommend them for anything worthwhile.

[fdisilvestro]

Lighten mode: to create star trails images from a stack of sky images. Darken mode will result in a dark sky without stars.

I think Redcrown has nailed it. The lens correction are the culprit.
I downloaded the 10 DNGs, opened in LR and then in PS as layers, changed to lighten and later to darken. In both cases I got the ugly banding when flattening/merging visible

I then went back to LR, turned off lens corrections and repeated the process. No banding at all

[stamper]

I don't do star trails so I am not missing anything? That is an interesting find with respect to LR.

[Paul2660]

As a big user of the stack modes in CC for night shots, I had one question. Before you run the stack modes are you creating a smart object? 

I regularly use the max and mean modes for star trail photography but always create a smart object before I run the modes.  On average 60 layers converted to a smart object then run the stack modes.

I always convert the raw files to tiff in LR or C1 before loading into CC for stacking.

Paul

[BRPhotography]

Wow... Lots of posts to answer this morning

Sorry, I guess I forgot to say stack the images before.. Let me start from the beginning after answering a few questions.

digitaldog: I haven't ever seen anything in my Raw files either. Once I stack (as little as just two images), blend mode of lighten/darken, merge, then it appears. And yes, the Tiff you sent is clean as glass.
Redcrown: You hit the nail on the head... You did exactly what is was planning to do today, and you understood my method of madness correctly lol  
stamper: If I use the blend mode of lighten, it will let anything bright through, such as stars; which gives me startrails! Likewise, If I used darken the stars will disappear, leaving a clean sky. This works because the stars move, and the previous spot they were is now dark.
FranciscoDisilvestro: exactly nailed........
Paul2660: Yes, I did use smart objects and Maximum... Very similar result.

After reading all of the comments I doubt I need to explain much more since everyone figured out the issue. I am getting ready to try with my computer now.

THANK YOU everyone!!!

Benjamin

P.S. I have used lens corrections before with no issues. Must be something Adobe introduced recently.

[BRPhotography]

No lens corrections, no banding! Wooooooooooooooooooo....................

[stamper]

For a lot of people with banding problems this will be good news......hopefully.

[BRPhotography]

For a lot of people with banding problems this will be good news......hopefully.

Yes! I am going to contact Adobe about this. Maybe they will fix it in the next release.

[BRPhotography]

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/banding-pattern-when-using-profile-corrections-in-camera-raw-and-lightroom?rfm=1

[kirkt]

If it is the lens correction, try disabling the vignette correction portion of the lens correction.  I recall the same problem in the vignetting correction in another raw converter a while back (I think it was DXO 8, maybe).

Kirk

[BRPhotography]

I will try that right now

[BRPhotography]

If it is the lens correction, try disabling the vignette correction portion of the lens correction.  I recall the same problem in the vignetting correction in another raw converter a while back (I think it was DXO 8, maybe).

Kirk

I just tried it and it's just the opposite.. Vignette removal doesn't do it, Distortion Correction does it!

[fdisilvestro]

This issue looks more a moire problem caused by the image noise and the "resampling" done when applying the lens correction. Stacking several images in lighten/darken mode amplifies the effect.
If you apply strong noise reduction and some grain, the effect is diminished but not eliminated

If I recall correctly, the issue with DXO was banding due the vigneting component. It was jus concentrical circles, not this shapes

[stamper]

Smart objects were mentioned in an earlier post. I always use them in PS when I use the transform to preserve quality.

[BRPhotography]

This issue looks more a moire problem caused by the image noise and the "resampling" done when applying the lens correction. Stacking several images in lighten/darken mode amplifies the effect.
If you apply strong noise reduction and some grain, the effect is diminished but not eliminated

If I recall correctly, the issue with DXO was banding due the vignetting component. It was just concentrical circles, not this shapes

That could be, but as I said, I haven't had the problem before. Thus, it must be something introduced by Adobe in one of their updates. I will try some noise reduction to see what that does.

Smart objects were mentioned in an earlier post. I always use them in PS when I use the transform to preserve quality.

I did try the smart object and Maximum - same result.

Thank you everyone for you most generous help! It is much appreciated...

Benjamin