Are any of you getting the dark outlines on subjects when you have contrast like the image below? I pushed Clarity a little extra with CS6 ACR to emphasize the outline, but I get it almost every time with this kind of contrast between subject and background. (This is a camera RAW image shot at 1000 ISO, f6.3, and 1/6400 SS with a 200-400mm at 400mm)

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Do you see the lines before raising the clarity slider? If not, it's just a processing artifact and a negative attribute of the LR clarity algorithm for these situations. If I'm not mistaken, clarity works by enhancing edge contrast and might over do it if there's already significant edge contrast in the image. Kind of like halos with oversharpening.

-Alex Rosen
www.flickr.com/photos/klrbee25/

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If I reduce Clarity to zero, I get almost no reverse halo. If I add any Clarity to these high-contrast images, the reverse halo starts to form. I have not seen this with type of landscape images that have less severe contrast...or I just did not look hard enough. I am wondering if this is a D800e artifact that you would not get with a D800.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Just like Alex said, clarity in ACR/LR is a modified unsharp mask sharpening. In normal USM you set a high amount and low radius. With the clarity adjustment the software sets a relatively low amount (compared with actual sharpening) and a high radius. It is the high radius that you see as the halo.

The halos are not directly related to the D800(E). But the fact you see the halos now can be indirectly linked to your D800E. With your former body you probably adjusted clarity until the dark areas were ruined by noise and/or lack of detail. The D800E holds shadow tones so well that you’re likely to push clarity much further than you did previously, and this is why the halos are visible. If you wish, you can use layer masking in Photoshop proper to get rid of the halos. One way to do it is like this:

1. Open your raw image as a smart object in Photoshop, without enhancing clarity (or even slightly reducing it), so that the sky is free from halos.
2. Duplicate the layer.
3. On the upper layer, adjust clarity as required. Now you see the halos.
4. On the lower layer select the sky around the bird (in the above example, almost any tone- or color-based selection tool will do).
5. With the selection active, select “Refine Edge” and adjust Feather and … size … (I don’t remember its exact name but it’s the lowest of the group, maybe Extend/Contract) until you see all sky selected and very little of the bird. Set output to Selection.
6. With the selection still active, select the top layer, and with the Alt key held down, click on the “Create Layer Mask” icon. Alt-clicking is equivalent to first inverting the selection and then creating a layer mask from the selection.
Now the layer mask hides the sky from the upper layer (the one with the halos).

You may use “Refine Mask” until you’re satisfied that the halos are gone. When you’re done, you can do Layers / Flatten image.

Regards, Antero

Great tip Antero. I have used a similar smart object technique to get rid of noise in HDR shots.

I have also figured out a way to use my clone stamp to lighten the areas around the dark edges that develop the halos. However, this takes more times and will lighten the edges of the dark object if I am not careful.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I applied the same technique to a dragonfly image, and it worked great. Thanks! (I shot this little guy with my 200-400mm while he was flying. Who says a D800 cannot capture moving objects well?)

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

At certain distances - or viewing angles - I see a relatively wide bleed over. This is more than just the rim but is a gradual darkening that extends out from the wing tips.

I see the same problem with other types of edits. Fine detailed branches and bare trees are problematic. It starts with the settings that are applied during the initial rendering of the RAW file. Normally some contrast is applied and in some cases it shows up with a wide shadow. I have seen images severely criticized in PPA competitions because of this problem.

It is not unique to LR or CS6. I see the same problem with Capture NX2. One technique is to use negative selection to make sure the contrast is not applied to the blue background of the sky.

Eric Bowles
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OK, I have applied all of the techniques you guys have suggested and the result is:

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Looks great to me - how about from your standpoint?

Eric Bowles
Nikonians Team
My Gallery
Workshops

Nikonians membership — my most important photographic investment, after the camera

I have been haunted with this dark halo issue since I bought my first D800. I have used several techniques to remove them, but this new one is the best. (I love CS6 and layers.)

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Boy oh boy, do I need a course in Photoshop! Some of these informative but very technical posts leave me gasping for air. I am barely skimming Photoshop's potential
.
Gator Bob Santa Fe New Mexico
*D800E *D700 *SB800 *RRS 24L & BH-55
Nikkors: *14-24 *24-70 *70-200 VRII *T-20E III *50 f/1.8 *PC-E 85 *28-300 & Tamron 90mm Macro

Looks good. Keep in mind that you can also paint in clarity with the local adjustment brush rather than using a global setting. This can keep it from being applied to the edges of the bird.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

I found I produced too many halos when I started using PS2 on files from a D2X. I think I have learned a bit since. Now I find images from my 800E need even more careful processing than those from a D3S or D3X; it is an ongoing learning curve. If I write down what I do, I may learn a lot from comments experts make!

Trying to keep it simple I use just PS6.

RAW image opened in ACR 7.1
Exposure and contrast roughly adjusted if necessary. Normally Clarity 0, though it might be raised later for some images. As far as possible I keep the other controls at 0, but depending on the subject, lighting conditions and difference in colour sensitivity of the hunam eye and the camera, I alter anything or everything else. My standard sharpening is:

- Amount 30 - 60,
- Radius 0.5,
- Detail 100,
- Masking 0,
- Luminance, variable 0 - 40 depending on the ISO of the image - usually 30.


I ensure there is no granularity or mottling in low detail areas and no halos on high contrast edges, by altering the Luminance, and for high ISO images adding up to 30 Masking. The image is at 300% for this examination and adjustment. I want no artifacts added at this stage.

Very rarely I will increase the Sharpening Amount above 40 for images that are not going to be enlarged much.

Images are filed like this as .dng for future manipulation. Images for use are sharpened in Photoshop as required after other processing. Typically for say twigs against a white sky:

Smart Sharpen

- Amount 100%,
- Radius 0.3 px.

The Amount control I adjust at 200% or 300% image magnification to ensure no artifacts are produced.

This is what I do. Am I missing any tricks?

Roderick

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I use the www.lynda.com training to get answers to questions like yours. I found their Adobe Camera RAW training video answered many of my questions:

http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Photoshop-CS6-for-Photographers-Camera-Raw-7/98831-2.html

The full CS6 training covers soup to nuts, but is way more than many photographers will use...except the layers and Content Aware Fill sections:

http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Photoshop-CS6-Photographers/96307-2.html

Almost all of my post processing beyond ACR is with the Nik suite and they have great online training that is free.

https://www.niksoftware.com

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I have never used Auto Mask before with the Adjustment Brush. I went through my Lynda.com ACR 7 training video, and it shows how to use that features. It works great to increase Clarity just on the main subject (bird) while leaving the background (sky) unaffected. Great stuff! Thanks for the tip!

This keeps me from having to use smart objects and layers in PS. I guess this is the way someone with LR4 would do it.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

>
>This keeps me from having to use smart objects and layers in
>PS. I guess this is the way someone with LR4 would do it.

Yes, it works well in both ACR and LR. The Auto Mask feature works extremely well in my experience. For a subject like a bird, you can use a pretty large brush and as long as you don't move the cursor into the sky, you're fine. Even if that happens, just switch to the erase mode to clean things up or feather things out.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

> “I have never used Auto Mask before with the Adjustment Brush … It works great to increase Clarity just on the main subject (bird) while leaving the background (sky) unaffected.”

Yes, Auto Mask in LR or ACR works great as long as you don’t use it for overly dramatic adjustments, like brightening of very dark shadows. A residual problem with Auto Mask is that it paints on areas which are similar to the one where you first started to paint. If the Auto Mask feature detects that you’re painting over a different area from the one where you started to paint, the adjustment doesn’t “take”. That’s the whole point of Auto Mask, right? Not quite because you can’t adjust how similar or different the start area and the current area can be for the adjustment to be painted. The result is that the adjustment mask created by Auto Mask will have tiny holes in it. Assuming that your adjustment is brightening of shadows, areas very different from the ones where you start painting will remain unaffected and stand up as dark spots. This is why I only paint the edges with Auto Mask on, with a narrow brush and a medium flow, and with mask overlay visible (“O”). When the edges have been painted with Auto Mask on, I usually complete the mask with Auto Mask off, to get an evenly painted mask and adjustment effect.

If your adjustment mask is fully painted, either with flow set to 100% or you’ve painted over in several strokes, it is easy to fill the small holes by painting more. But things get more complicated when you start using less than fully painted adjustment masks, to get a locally varying adjustment effect. In these cases it makes sense to build up the adjustment mask step by step, inspecting with the mask overlay on and off, to ensure that there are no black holes. If your mask is only partially painted (partially effective at some places), it will be very difficult to paint in the black holes. Or you can paint the mask fully and use the eraser mode to reduce the effect in places you don’t want the effect. Using the eraser is often easier because if you exceed the mask edge with the eraser, it doesn’t hurt because there’s nothing to erase.

Sorry for the long post. I need to learn to compress my messages.

Regards, Antero

Makes sense to me...and another good reason for me to keep using CS6 instead of LR4. I will stick with layer masks and smart objects that I understand.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I agree. As good as LR's adjustment brush is, if you want precise and separate control of mask outline and local variation of effect, you can't beat Photoshop.

Regards, Antero

Except Capture NX2 perhaps (Unsharp Mask with a +/- Selection Brush)?

I just ran an update for Photoshop to:
Adobe Photoshop Version: 13.0.1 (13.0.1 20120808.r.519 2012/08/08:21:00:00) x64

After the update, I can no longer use Smart Objects with ACR to create layers that I can blend in PS. The workflow that I was using yesterday now fails. This is really frustrating!

My ACR 7.2 beta did not update with the automatic update from withing Photoshop. Maybe that is the issue. I cannot figure out how to get the beta to update to the final 7.2 release. Bummer!

Update: I rebooted the computer one more time, and now the smart objects layer works again in PS. Go figure!

I think computers are out to get me!

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I used the link in reply 6 here - http://forums.adobe.com/message/4745971#4745971. Downloading & running the patch installer should update to ACR 7.2. If it doesn't a manual install of the .8bi file probably will.

I tried all of the suggestions, and none of them worked to update to ACR 7.2 final release. I even downloaded and installed the DNG converter at:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5486

My 7.2 beta appears to have all of the final fixes in it and it works fine with D800 files, so maybe Adobe just did not update the name that appears when ACR 7.2 loads. That is still weird though.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

That's odd. When I open a NEF in Photoshop CS6 the ACR dialog box pops up and the top bar says 'Camera Raw 7.2 - Nikon D800E'.

What ACR version does it say in your Help / About Plugins / Camera Raw?

It says: Version 7.2.0.32

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Mine says 7.2.0.46.

Perhaps yours has not updated the "CameraRaw.8bi" files. There should be one in each of these folders:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS6\File Formats
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS6\File Formats

On my machine both CameraRaw.8bi files are dated 19/9/2012 (19 September 2012).

my 8bi files are dated 22 August 2012.

I will try renaming them to something else and see if the DNG Converted installation will replace them.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

If that doesn't work you could try running AdobePatchInstaller which should give you the latest .8bi files. That's where I got mine from.

I renamed the 8bi files and reran the AdobePatchInstaller. It installed new 8bi files in the folders you reference. One is dated 9/19/2012 but the other is dated 2/9/2012.

Now when I run Bridge and open a file in ACR it still comes up as 7.2 beta. The old file must also be located somewhere else.

I guess we are way off topic of dark halos.

Update: I give up. Short of uninstalling CS6 and reinstalling it, I cannot figure out a way to get ACR 7.2 beta upgraded to 7.2.

Update 2: I found a log file for the patch installer that said the patch could not be installed because the patch had been applied already. It is interesting that the installer never told me that...it appeared to execute properly.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Hmm, I don't know what's happened there - unless you've somehow got the wrong version of AdobePatchInstaller and hence the wrong .8bi file. I could send you the .8bi file dated 3.15pm 19 September but it's over 20MB so too big to email.

When I renamed the 8bi files, I could do ACR editing, but when I selected open for the file to transfer to PS, it would not transfer.

I believe the ACR is not just a separate 8bi file. I think it is embedded into Bridge somehow.

Apparently, I ran the patch software when I installed the 7.2 beta in August. My patch log shows that. So now when I try to run the 7.2 patch software, it aborts because it sees that a 7.2 version is already installed.

Until ver 7.3 comes out, I think I am stuck.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I suspect Adobe Bridge uses the .8bi files from its parent application - which should be Photoshop.

You could try this:

1) Download AdobePatchInstaller from following link and save the SETUP.ZIP folder to desktop - http://swupdl.adobe.com/updates/oobe/aam20/win/PhotoshopCameraRaw7-7.0/7.2.82/Setup.zip

2) Open SETUP.ZIP then open PAYLOADS - you should see 3 folders and 5 files inside.

3) Open the folder AdobeCameraRaw7.0All-190912152609 then open the sub-folder Assets_1.1. Copy the file called 1003 to desktop. Rename it Camera Raw.8bi and copy it to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS6\File Formats (NB. backup existing Camera Raw.8bi file first by renaming it - e.g. XXXCamera Raw.8bi).

4) Go back to PAYLOADS folder. Open the folder AdobeCameraRaw7.0All-x64-190912153742 then open the sub-folder Assets_1.1. Copy the file called 1002 to desktop. Rename it Camera Raw.8bi and copy it to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS6\File Formats (NB. backup existing Camera Raw.8bi file first by renaming it - e.g. ZZZCamera Raw.8bi).

This looks like serious surgery to me. I am afraid I would blow it and ACR would stop working completely!

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

It's pretty much the same as you did in #28 Larry - i.e. rename two .8bi files and replace them with two others.

The only difference is the 2 new files are pasted in manually - instead of doing it automatically with AdobePatchInstaller.

OK. I will brave up and try it.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

Just make sure you backup the two existing .8bi files by renaming them.

I executed the suggested procedure. ACR still works fine with PS and Bridge but it still comes up as 7.2 beta.

I see that ACR RC 7.3 is now out. I will just wait until it is final and install it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I don't know why it didn't work - those are the correct folders for manually installing the .8bi files (see approx 1/2 way down this page - http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4365).

I wonder if the CameraRaw cache has anything to do with it.