Photoshop CS5 problem - Is this Banding?

Question

Hi
I am using Adobe lightroom 3.0.64 to process RAW photos from my Canon Camera. Then I touch up the pictures in Photoshop CS5. I have been working on some snooted background shots recently and I am experiencing a problem when I edit the photos in photoshop. It appears to be some of kind artifacting or distortion particularly noticeable if using graduated lighting. Looking on the web I have come across references to "banding". I am not sure if this is the problem I am experiencing, but I would appreciate it if someone could take a look.
Either way any help on how to get rid of this issue "post" picture taken would be greatly appreciated.
I have tried duplicating a layer/Blurring it and then using masks to bring out the main focus of the picture. This doesnt seem to work very well and just makes the banding look more noticeable.
I have uploaded a hi-res version of the file:
http://www.lakelanddigitalmedia.com/stock/bandingproblem.jpg
and circled the problem areas.
Any help would be most appreciated.

Answer 1

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slackbladder wrote:
I can see the same posterization effect when I click on that one too. Does that mean the problem is to do with the screen display profile after all, and I should change the profile to Srgb as suggested.
There's no easy answer, but in general unless your monitor is actually displaying the sRGB color space accurately I'd say it's not generally a good idea to throw out a display profile that brings your particular monitor into proper calibration.
If you want your document products - i.e., that which you publish or print - to hide the posterization, then I suggest making sure Dithering is enabled in your color preferences.  That way when the conversion of the document profile to sRGB occurs, the gradients will look smooth.
Today's monitors are good enough that you can easily see 256 different shades of gray.  The posterization you're seeing may well be because of that - OR - you may be experiencing the problem I reported in this thread:  http://forums.adobe.com/message/3473424
Try going into Edit - Preferences - Performance, [Advanced] and changing your OpenGL mode in Photoshop to Basic, then restarting Photoshop.  Does that help make your rose image look better on your monitor?
-Noel