But what if your image is set to the wrong depth? Learn two methods for creating depth of field effects with Photoshop. Worth testing your camera to see if you can use a lesser setting to save on file size. Now, towards the bottom of the menu, you should see the three Bit/Channel options. ProPhoto is a good choice to keep all printable colors. A quick 60 second Photoshop tutorial showing you how to change the bit depth of an image The limiting factor is your RAW conversion software, not Photoshop. (figured this one out the hard way lol)For the life of me I cannot figure out where the setting is to change the default back to 8 bit, where can I change that? This may be helpful if working in an 8-bit file. There's no such thing as a 24 bit depth image really in general usage. In other words, 24-bits (aka True Color) for a monitor isnt super impressive, it actually means the same thing as8-bits for Photoshop. You should now be able to confidently change the bit depth of your images in Photoshop. If you can afford it, a 10-bit display is ideal if you arent on a budget. And so on. I then processed the images in Lightroom (LR) using exposure and white balance adjustments. I looked through all the settings and can't find something obvious here to set this to 16-bit by default. But what about if you are sending your images over the internet to be printed by a pro lab? Noise is a very good example of this discrepancy. With a 16-bit workflow, I see no reason to worry about banding/posterization with ProPhoto RGB and I use ProPhoto RGB as my primary color space these days. The color cast starts at about 3 stops of underexposure (-3ev), is much more apparent at -4ev, and is a serious issue at -5 and -6. Size. This is a pretty lumpy scale and not very useful for a photograph. No conversion necissary. However, understanding color depth can help you maximize quality and choose the right tonal range for each one of your projects. I do not see notable differences in noise, but there are huge differences in color cast in deep shadows (with the 12-bit file shifting a bit yellow and quite a bit green) and some minor differences in shadow contrast (with the 12-bit file being a little too contrasty). I believe the concerns with ProPhoto are probably driven by theoretical concerns that not found in the real work, banding caused by use of HSL in RAW (ie, not related to the color space), false perception of banding when viewing layered files without zooming in, or using ProPhoto with 8-bit test files (because any loss of quality at 8-bits is a big deal). How to change default bit depth. Should you worry about this loss of 1 bit? (In this case, the Mac menu appears on the left and the Windows one on the right.) So there is an advantage to shooting with a 14-bit file on the Nikon D850, but it is relatively slight under extreme conditions. Next, select the Image tab from the menu bar at the top of the screen and find Mode. You can see through transparent areas of a layer to the layers below. That holds true even if you are using an 8-bit source file (such as a stock image downloaded in JPG). LR and CO arent directly comparable since you cant do more than 5 stops of exposure adjustment in LR or more than 4 stops of exposure adjustment in CO. [Note that Im not saying these arent excellent cameras that produce better images, they probably are Im just saying that I dont think Photoshops 15+1 bit depth design is something to worry about when processing files from these cameras]. Color space is gamut (the range over which the bits are applied), so a very large gamut could theoretically cause banding if it stretches your bits too thin. The higher the bit depth, the more an image can be adjusted without losing quality. Download our free iPad app at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/video-training-courses-from/id418130423?mt=8More detail. Amazing how that JPEG2000 file shrinks down~10,000X to only 2MB. (You may be aware that it uses 16-bit floating point math in order to cover a wider dynamic range with a similar number of bits. There are a few different ways to change the bit depth of an image. If you were to use a box of crayons as an example, greater bit-depth would be like having more shades (more crayons) and greater gamut would be like having the most saturated color be more bold (regardless of the number of crayons). Bit Depth & Number of Colors. that was IT! Copyright 2022 Adobe. I looked through all the settings and can't find something obvious here to set this to 16-bit by default. I'm just saying that I don't think Photoshop's 15+1 bit depth design is . A color image is typically composed of red, green, and blue pixels to create color. I have heard many experts claim something to be true (in theory), only to find that real world factors make the theory essentially irrelevant. Photoshop offers 8, 16, and 32-bit file formats. How to Extract Enhanced Shadow Detail with Subtracted Luminosity Masks, click here to see the full resolution image in the JPEG2000 format with bit depths up to 14-bits, how to use HSL for beautiful color and avoid banding. 2-bit images are typically called bitmaps, and they contain only . Color depth refers to the amount of tonal variation found in an image. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/OreillyMediaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/OReilly/?fref=tsTwitter: https://twitter.com/OReillyMediaWebsite: http://www.oreilly.com/ Also, tweaking the white balance just slightly more than I have here started to show some large grey splotches in the wood of the door. If so, why bother with 16-bits? Figure 1 To reduce pixel depth in an image, choose Palette > Set Pixel Depth and select a choice from the submenu. All Free Mockups is a participant in the Envato Affiliate Program, and as a Envato Affiliate, earns from qualified purchases. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one scenario where converting an 8-bit photo to 16-bit would be advantageous, and its not very common. Heres an example comparing a black to white gradient at different bit depths. No matter which camera or RAW conversion software you use, it is best to do white balance and tonal adjustments in RAW before Photoshop for best results. My discussion here is limited to a single black and white channel. As a simple analogy, pouring a small glass of water into a bigger glass doesn't give you more water - it just gives you a partially-filled big glass. Bit-depth determines the number of possible values or increments. The one with the checkmark next to it is your current color depth. But seriously, the above method isnt necessary. Color depth, also known as bit depth, is essentially how much information each color channel can store in each pixel. If your print lab accepts 16-bit formats (TIFF, PSD, JPEG2000), thats probably the way to go but ask your vendor what they recommend if you are unsure. So even though the difference may not be initially visible, they can become a serious issue later as you edit the image. Good to hear this display issue will be fixed today, but this is NOT saving it as a preference for a new file. So if you're image is at 16 bit RGB say a raw file, just convert it to 8 bit RGB. The difference between 8 bit, 16 bit, and 32 bit is the number of color values that can be displayed. In addition to 8 Bits/Channel images, Photoshop can also work with images that contain 16 or 32 Bits/Channel.. You would assume that this then means 16-bits means 16-bits per channel in Photoshop. All rights reserved. 3. This simply means that ProPhoto RGB will retain most color information present in Lightroom recreating your image in Photoshop faithfully. For a 16-bit file, it is unnecessary and increases the size of the saved file (assuming you are using compression to save your files). However, it treats the 16th digit differently it is simply added to the value created from the first 15-digits. Simply adding some noise to an 8-bit gradient for a fake sky is perfectly adequate. And as discussed above, wider gamuts should be used with 16-bit files. There is no 16-bit option for the gradient tool in Photoshop, it is a 12-bit tool internally (but 12-bits is more than enough for any practical work, as it allows for 4096 values). In other words, precision (the number of bits) and accuracy (the quality of the numbers stored with those bits) are not the same. How you choose to edit your photos ultimately comes down to your system and what you hope to accomplish. A 9-bit gradient is extremely faint (barely detectable) on both displays. Clearly, this is massively underexposed throughout the image and about as extreme an example as you could ever imagine. For the second, Colin Smith experiments with the Lens Blur Filter. Furthermore, RAW processing software matters, so I also tried processing the same images in Capture One (testing auto, Film Standard, and Linear curves for the D850). Each of these colors is handled by your computer and monitor as a channel. In the popup, select a color mode you prefer and click OK to save the changes. It would be convenient if all bit-depths could be compared directly, but there are some variations in terminology that are helpful to understand . First, make sure the mode is set to RGB Color. Whenever I create a new file it automatically creates it in 16 bit depth, and I never think about it until I either go to use filter gallery or transfer my sketches to illustrator to refine and I cannot import it as layers. You should always use 16-bits when working with ProPhoto, which makes the minor waste of bit-depth a non-issue. Conversion of the final edited image to 8-bits is perfectly fine, and has the advantage of creating much smaller files in the internet for faster uploads/downloads. Dont believe me? Two scenarios come to mind where 16-bit mode is helpful. This helps add a bit of noise that should minimize the risk of any banding being exposed with the final conversion to 8-bits. The first version (on top) is the processed 14-bit image. Choose a bit depth for your image in Photoshop. One way is to use an image editing program like Photoshop. Note that if you want to create your own file in Photoshop, the gradient tool will create 8-bit gradients in 8-bit document mode (you can then convert the document to 16-bit mode and will still have an 8-bit gradient for testing/comparison). And if you convert color spaces, be aware that there is a dithering option for 8-bit images under Edit / Color Settings / Conversion Options. I rarely would adjust RAW exposure out to +/-4 stops, but it can happen with extreme situations or portions of poor exposures. As of Photoshop CS5, a maximum of 32-bits can be used. This can start to make small gaps between values turn into large gaps. If you have awide gamut (Adobe RGB) or P3 gamut monitor, then you have better gamut (with Adobe RGB expanding the blues/cyan/greens more than P3, and P3 expanding red/yellow/greens further than Adobe RGB). Of course, youll need to convert the RAW to the wide gamut during the initial export, switching the color space later wont recover any colors you throw away earlier in the process. There is no reason to use 32-bits for photography unless you are processing an HDR file. Heres a better one lets say you are arranging a conference in a small conference room that seats 80 people. Even if the source has been degraded, processing in 16-bits will still yield better results as it will minimize compounding of rounding errors in the math with multiple adjustments. When you combine 2 bits, then you can have four possible values (00, 01, 10, and 11). (I have not posted the Capture One results here, but both are worse, with the 12-bit file being truly terrible for this extreme underexposure.). In reality, the longest dimensions of ProPhoto compared to Adobe RGB arent quite double the linear distance in XYZ coordinates. Ive done "terrible things" to 8-bit Jpegs (edited them really aggressively) and they turned out fine. I dont have a 16-bit camera to test. I wouldnt worry about it if you are using a 16-bit working space (you definitely do not want to throw away any bits if you are using an 8-bit working space, but you should never use 8-bits anyhow). The problem you show with 8 bit docs not displaying correctly, on some systems, should be resolved in v23.3.1 released today. In this article I wish to discuss the concept of converting 8-bit data up to 16-bit for editing. A 4-stop change in exposure is on the order of losing a little over 4 bits. Yes, Photoshop does allow you to convert your 8-bit file to 16-bit, but it doesn't truly turn it into 16-bit data. There arent that many situations where you would encounter a perfect gradient. Bit Depth: Again, a simple choice; Lightroom offers to export your image with a bit depth of either 8 bits per channel or 16 bits per channel. Thank you! A wide gamut (ie Adobe RGB) monitor is also ideal. The first is very simple and more well known. A single bit has 2 possible values, 0 or 1. The futility of the exercise. Honestly I am NOT sure - I did open the "camera raw" setting under edit >preference> camera raw but didnt see a setting there unless I missed something. As a general rule, the more colors (higher bit) that an image has, the smoother the transitions between tones and the less banding that is present. If we never edited photos, there would be no need to add any more bits than the human eye can see. Because the information is stored in each pixel, that means that the file size increases with the color depth. An 8 bit image can display 16.7 million colors between the Red, Green, and Blue color channels. Subsequent edits on 8-bit images will not degrade as badly if that math is performed in a 16-bit mode. In reality, 8-bits is fine for final print output. To give a little more detail on my methods, I created an image that is 16,384 pixels wide which allows me exactly 1 pixel for every value in a 14-bit gradient. After all that discussion, it really comes down to a few simple rules. I then manually corrected the image the best I could, but there were no white balance settings which looked fully correct nor matched the 14-bit file. Photoshop allows you to change the bit depth of an image in the "Image" menu, under the "Mode" sub-menu. In Photoshop, this is represented as integers 0-255 (internally, this is binary 00000000-11111111 to the computer). Want all of our free Photoshop videos? Choose a bit depth for your image in Photoshop. It is widely accepted that there are benefits to working in 16-bit rather than 8-bit mode for some repeat some editing tasks. This gives me more latitude to deal with extreme scenes or work with files that I may accidentally underexpose. -- ~K Photoshop does actually use 16-bits per channel. A single bit isnt really good for anything beyond yes or no because it can only have 2 values. Sometimes we see files referred to as being 24 of 48-bit. Be sure that you arent seeing false banding due to the way Photoshop manages layered files (see my previous post No, You Really Dont Have Banding for details on the issue and how to test for real banding). Red 8 bits + Green 8 bits + Blue 8 bits = 24 bits. If you were nervous about banding in the sky, you could convert to 16-bit before adding the vignette layer. In reality, you will probably never that many bits for several reasons: Taking all of this into consideration, 12-bits sounds like a very reasonable level of detail that should allow for significant post-processing. Look at the 16-bit scale for the Info panel in Photoshop, which shows a scale of 0-32,768 (which means 32,769 values since we are including 0). So there there may be value in capturing extra bits of detail depending on your needs and camera. To start, open up your file in Photoshop. I have tried various test edits designed to induce banding with ProPhoto and still not run into it (with 16-bit files). I would gladly share the original PSB file, but it is over 20GB. Photoshops gradient tool will create 12-bit gradients in 16-bit document mode. If we significantly brighten the shadows or darken the highlights, then we are expanding some portion of the range. Keep reading for a quick guide on changing color depth in Photoshop, and why its important. (and I may have) I did this quite a while ago and honestly forget exactly where I changed it at, I usually end up manually changing it back when i am in photoshop and remember it (like filter gallery not working) or reopen and save the file properly when trying to import layers to photoshop. Much more concerning though is the splotchy color noise (which you can see in the lighter part of the towel shadow below). Choose Percent from the Width drop down-menu and type 71 in the text box. And opening a 12-bit file as 16-bits is really no different than opening an 8-bit JPG and then converting to 16-bits. There is no immediate visual difference. But Im not a big fan of speculating, so Ive done a lot of testing. This works great if you want to change it every time you create a new file, but something has changed recently that defaults mine to 8bit. A Ferrari is theoretically faster than a Ford truck, but maybe not on a dirt road. Changing Bit Depth in Photoshop If you opened a RAW or other type of high quality, uncompressed, image straight into Photoshop, don't worry, you can easily change the bit depth setting there too. Create dreamy backgrounds while . If you process for fine art black and white, then these numbers apply directly to you. Results from other cameras are likely to vary, and the differences are ISO-dependent so you should test with your own camera. RGB images with 8bits per channel (Bits/Channel or bpc) are sometimes called 24bit images (8 bits x 3 channels = 24 bits of data for each pixel). Handy Photoshop Links you will want to bookmark, Troubleshoot - Scratch disk are full error, Move artwork between Photoshop & Illustrator. So, for my purposes, a 10-bit gradient is visually identical to 14-bits or more. Your cameras accuracy is not as high as its precision. RGB Color, Grayscale, CMYK Color, Lab Color, and Multichannel modes can all be edited using 16 Bits/Channel in Photoshop. Youll then want to save the file to retain any changes. I have printed hundreds of very high-quality images that were uploaded to my vendor as 8-bit JPGs and the final images look amazing (exported from Lightroom with 90% quality and Adobe RGB color space). If you convert a single layer 16-bit image to 8-bits, you will see something that looks exactly like the 16-bit image you started with. I have to change my screenshots to at least 16 or the artwork will not show in the canvas, but you can see it clearly in the layer view.There's no place to set this to 16 bit by default so you don't have to set this every time? I want to finish this page on a note of practicality 8-bit data is nowhere near as flaky as you might have been lead to believe. So go with 16-bits. Monitor vendors want to make their equipment sound sexy, so they typically refer to displays with 8-bits/channel as 24-bit (because you have 3 channels with 8-bits each, which can be used to create roughly 16MM colors). First, make sure the mode is set to RGB Color. Remember that bits determine the number of increments relative to a range. If you noticed that your file is set to 8 bits and you are getting it ready for print, youll want to change it to a 16-bit depth image. But if you do run into banding (most likely if you get an 8-bit stock image), you can take the following steps to minimize it: Download the FREEluminosity masking panel . Most of Graphic software, by default, work on 8 Bit per color channel, providing two options for Color Modes (RGB & CMYK) and default value for Color Profile as per your choice of Color Mode.. A 8 Bit document generally means 8 Bits of color information per color component or color channel. If you are using Photoshop CC, use the Camera RAW filter to add some. First is the original 14-bit RAW, which is about 6.5 stops underexposed. Even using extreme curves and other adjustments that go well beyond how I imagine anyone would edit these photos, I am not able to see any issues. Leave it as 8bit/channel in photoshop or lightroom and you're fine. Here in my Windows 11, it is Display adapter properties for Display 1. When you combine 3 bits, you can have eight possible values (000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, and 111). If you follow the recommendations above, it is very unlikely you will run into banding. Conny's tip: When you have layers as smart objects, Photoshop allows you to set a different bit depth for the individual objects than the one of the source document. A better generalized solution for removing banding is described below. The embedded image here is just an example, click here to see the full resolution image in the JPEG2000 format with bit depths up to 14-bits. Note that the image above is a black and white image. Release the cursor and the image is converted to the pixel depth you chose. Below are some extreme examples from my testing. Keep in mind that the image size does increase with the higher bit depth due to the amount of information stored in the pixels. As a simple analogy, pouring a small glass of water into a bigger glass doesnt give you more water it just gives you a partially-filled big glass. So while this result is ok, it is just shy of a disaster. 16-bit images have 65,536 colors, and 32-bit images have 16,777,215 colors. It just puts the 8-bit data into a 16-bit wrapper, if you know what I mean. Lets say you had shot in Jpeg mode (Jpegs are always 8-bit) and blown out the sky, so you wanted to add a gentle blue vignette layer to the white sky. Bit depth tells Photoshop how many colors an image can contain. So I copied the white balance from the above image, which resulting in an image which was slightly warm and definitely a bit too green. Trouble is, you still only have 80 chairs, which you space out across the hall in a feeble attempt to "fill" the space. Typical real-world example would be various bands showing up in the clear blue sky or excess noise. If youre new to working with images in Photoshop, you may not understand exactly what color depth is. The New Layer settings should be sticky so you can use the previous settings and amend the size for the next. Lightroom was unable to get a proper white balance from the gray card, there is simply too much color noise at the pixel level in this file. If you really want or need 16-bit, shoot raw and process it in 16-bit, the way everyone else does. And second, when there is risk of banding in your photo (eg a smooth backdrop, or a blue sky). Color depth is essential when it comes to producing smooth, high-quality photos. This will have the same effect of keeping as many . But, its always a good idea to check with your printer to find out their requirements to you dont run into any issues with your print order. So a JPG (which by definition is an RGB image with 8bits/channel) will actually be a 24 bit image. This is where you will find all of the color information about your file. Meanwhile, a 16 bit image can display 281 trillion colors. Switching it to 16-bit fixes it. Inevitably, there are some incurable nerds who say its important to work in 16-bit mode for everything, but of course thats not true. 8-bit displays (which were similar to Indexed . According to Adobe developer Chris Cox, this allows Photoshop to work much more quickly and provides an exact midpoint for the range, which is helpful for blend modes). An 8-bit gradient is relatively easy to see when looking for it, though I might still potentially miss it if I werent paying attention. Typically, the more data each color channel can hold, the better. That said, I care much more about quality than file size, so I just shoot at 14-bits all the time. If your source file is only available in 8-bits (such as a stock JPG), you should immediately convert the layered working document to 16-bits. Defining a range with a bunch of unused (imaginary) colors is wasteful/innefficient and causes larger jumps over the range of image values we care about. The human eye is more sensitive to shadows, and a logarithmic curve is applied to the RAW sensor data (not to TIF or other files after RAW conversion). Others may disagree with me on this, but I have yet to push a file and find banding issues related to ProPhoto in 16-bits. And it is those jumps that relate to banding. If you print at home, you can just create a copy of your 16-bit working file and finalize it (flatten, sharpen, change color space if needed, etc). All you need to do is to click the Image > Mode menu item and select the 16 Bits/Channel option. A while back I was messing with some settings in photoshop and must have accidently done something wrong. Bit depth is one of those terms weve all run into, but very few photographers truly understand. Can you change it in Photoshop? The final image shows a residual color cast and greater contrast (with the shadow behind the towel being most notable). A better option would be 30-48 bits (aka Deep Color), which is 10-16 bits/channel -with anything over 10 bits/channel being overkill for display in my opinion. Images with 32 Bits/Channel are . Why does Adobe do this? How did I test that? For several reasons: Based on the discussion above, it should be clear that 8-bits is not enough. Now, towards the bottom of the menu, you should see the three Bit/Channel options. I rarely would adjust RAW exposure out to +/-4 stops, but it can happen with extreme situations or portions of poor exposures. Before we compare the various options, lets first discuss what the naming means. Banding is obvious/discrete jumps from one color or tone to the next (instead of a smooth gradient). The benefits of 16-bits are largely in the ability to manipulate the image without causing issues. So both sRGB and AdobeRGB already fail to capture the full range of colors that can be recreated on a monitor or printer today. /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/td-p/10969301, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/10969326#M312968, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/10969335#M312970, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/10969331#M312969, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/10969338#M312971, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/10969408#M312984, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/12895433#M638441, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/12895463#M638448, /t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-change-default-bit-depth/m-p/12895534#M638459. To start, open up your file in Photoshop. This noise typically makes banding a little harder to see at a given bit-depth (ie, real world images dont typically show banding quite as easily as the smooth gradients Ive used above.). This means that instead of 2^16 possible values (which would be 65,536 possible values) there are only 2^15+1 possible values (which is 32,768 +1 = 32,769 possible values). As you apply Curves or other adjustments, you are expanding the tonal range of various parts of the image. So Id suggest an extra 4-5 bits over the limits of visible banding to be safe. A 16-bit RGB or LAB image in Photoshop would have 48-bits per pixel, etc. The rest of the photo would still (in reality) be 8-bit, but the sky gradient would be true 16-bit. No, not at all (15-bits is plenty, as well discuss below). I do critical work on a 27 Eizo (CG2730). So bit-depth determines how the smallest changes you can make, relative to some range of values. Therefore, a bit image that has 65,536 possible values for each channel, would have over 281 trillion possible color values. Because Lightroom only allows +5 stops of exposure, I also adjusted the curve to bring in the top-right point to 80% for the both of the versions below. Most likely, you have a monitor with an sRGB color gamut. Color depth determines how many colors can be reproduced in an image. I dont know if Lightroom uses 15+1 or true 16-bit math internally, but I suspect the latter. As a general rule, color depth, or bit depth, should be set to the 16-bit mode when making prints. Id almost say there is no banding at 9-bits. This is sometimes called 15+1 bits. It is also surprisingly useful for such an extreme adjustment, but has some clear issues. Be sure that Photoshops dithering is enabled. In addition to 8 Bits/Channel images, Photoshop can also work with images that contain 16 or 32 Bits/Channel.. The result is that the bits used for shadows are lower quality (see DPReview for an in-depth discussion of the topic). I would generally recommend merging to HDR in Lightroom instead of using 32-bit Photoshop files. Lastly, add some noise to restore the appearance of grain lost due to blurring. That said, using 16-bit capture should give you at least an extra bit in Photoshop and may be beneficial. You are recommended to select a color mode with higher bit depth to display more colors and get a better visual experience. However, not all printers are able to process high bit depths. Color offers more bit-depth. A bit is a computers way of storing information as a 1 or 0. . Even if portions of your shadows are this underexposed, I cant see a scenario where you would fully correct them to a middle gray. And even when I am looking for it, I cannot easily tell exactly where the edges are in comparison to a 10-bit gradient. To describe something complex, we can combine multiple bits. In Photoshop select save for web, once the window pops up on the preset . Depending on the quality of your monitor, you can probably only display differences up to 8-10 bits. If we manipulate the photograph enough, this will start to show up as banding in the image.
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