What's this strange effect?

[nemesis256]

This is a crop of one of I images at 100% view. Using a Nikon D5000 and the 18-55mm kit lens. this image was exposed for the sky, so the trees were dark, and I brightened them up with fill light. What's the strange halo around the trees? And yes this is with a RAW file.

[OsmosisStudios]

2 things strike me here: the halo effect isnt too bad, but its likely an effect of the Fill Light slider. Try dialing it back and see if it goes away, or pump it up and see if it gets worse.

My bigger issue is with sharpness: those trees are terrible smudges. Can we see the rest of the image and the EXIF for it?

[nemesis256]

I've been noticing that too in these images. Here's the original, which isn't a great image overall. Here's another slightly better image for comparison. I'm hoping this effect on the trees is due to the fact that they're far away, weather or high altitude or something like that and not something with my camera. These images were probably taken at around 3000 feet above sea level, and it was just covered with clouds and rainy before we got there. I notice a lot of haze in these images.

Exif for both, funnily enough:
1/250 at f/8
55mm
ISO 200
no flash

[Taallyn]

Did you do any sharpening? It could be sharpening halos.

[OsmosisStudios]

Looking at it up close like that and seeing the rest of the image, I'd side with Taallyn on this one: did you apply any sharpening to the image?

The second image doesnt show it as much, but it's there where the foreground meets the sky. There are also some darker halos around the clouds in the first image that are distracting me.

[Jim Poor]

Here is the complete EXIF for the two images. Sharpening halos are generally thin and bright. There are some sharpening halos that can be seen as a thin brighter band between the trees and the larger halo. My guess is that these were over processed in terms of shadow and highlight manipulation.

I'm betting they were also under exposed (exposure bias -2 in one of them) and lightened. There is way too much noise in what should be smooth sky for the ISO you used on a D5000. Noise is introduced when you boost exposure.

Camera Make: NIKON CORPORATION

Camera Model: NIKON D5000

Image Date: 2009:10:10 16:37:08

Flash Used: No

Focal Length: 55.0mm (35mm equivalent: 82mm)

Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)

Aperture: f/8.0

ISO equiv: 200

White Balance: Auto

Metering Mode: Matrix

Exposure: program (Auto)



Camera Make: NIKON CORPORATION

Camera Model: NIKON D5000

Image Date: 2009:10:10 16:38:09

Flash Used: No

Focal Length: 55.0mm (35mm equivalent: 82mm)

Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)

Aperture: f/8.0

ISO equiv: 200

Exposure Bias: -2.00

White Balance: Auto

Metering Mode: Matrix

Exposure: program (Auto)

[vandergus]

I'm pretty sure this is from excessive brightening of the shadows. I noticed this exact thing in a photo I was processing a couple of days ago. Go back and open up the RAW file and reduce the fill light. You should see the halo disappear.

As far as fixing the problem, there's not a whole lot you can do. It's just a limitation of digital photography and the particular sensor you're using. Making multiple exposure (one for the sky, one for the trees) is pretty much your only option for scenes like this.

[Jim Poor]

I created an action to open shadows and kill highlights that is much better than the S/H tool in PS. One of these days, I'll figure out a way to distribute it lol.

[nemesis256]

I increased the clarity in Lightroom (between 20 and 30, don't remember) but that's all the sharpening I did. I'm happy I posted this, now I'm having second thoughts on increasing the fill light a lot. I posted another topic in the post processing section about whether or not that's a good idea. thankfully I took multiple exposures so I may go back to fusing those.

Jim Poor, thank you for posting the complete exif data. Is there a way to easily copy it from an image? I'm on a Mac in case it matters.

These images were underexposed as well. I'll compare my edits with the original when I get back home to see if the noise goes down. I'll reset the clarity as well to see if it improves the look of the trees.

[Jim Poor]

I use an exif plug-in in Firefox on my Mac. A simple right-click, copy & paste from there.

When you resized, did you use bi-cubic sharper? That will introduce a halo too, but again, what we are seeing here is primarily not from sharpening.