How do Lightroom’s chromatic aberration and Defringe controls work?
Asked 6/25/2011
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After moving from a Canon 1000D to a 550D, I’m seeing more visible chromatic aberration from my 18-55mm lens, likely because of the higher-resolution sensor. In Lightroom, I’ve tried the Red/Cyan and Blue/Yellow chromatic aberration sliders, but I’m not getting rid of the fringing. How are these controls supposed to be used, and what does the Defringe option do?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
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Chromatic Aberration can be a bit tricky, and in many cases you can't actually correct the fringing, only the color cast, caused by CA. In LR 3, you have two ways to correct lens aberrations. The first, and most simple, is to use a lens profile which should automatically correct for ALL lens aberrations in your shot, including CA, distortion, and vignetting. The other option is to manually correct for those aberrations.
Manually Correcting
To manually correct for aberrations, go do Develop mode and expand the Lens Corrections panel. Click "Manual", and scroll down to the Chromatic Aberration section. You have three controls here, the Red/Cyan and Blue/Yellow sliders, as well as a Defringe options list. When using the sliders, the general idea is to shift the slider toward the opposite color of CA that you are seeing in your photos. In many cases, you will only have one axis of CA, however in the worst case you may have both axes. When both axes of CA are present in an image, you might see other colors, such as green, which require an adjustment of both sliders to fully correct.
To make life easier when correcting CA, try this little trick. Hold down the ALT key and adjust one of the sliders. This will limit the photo to just the two color channels affected by that slider, making it a lot easier to see the effect of your corrective adjustment.
The Defringe options allow you to limit where LR applied "defringing". CA is an optical effect that results from the divergence in the way different wavelengths of light focus. Particularly around the edges of objects, this can cause a slight halo or blurring, creating a soft fringe around the edges of those objects. Defringing attempts to correct this halo. Sometimes correction of CA itself will be sufficient and leave no halo, however if one is left behind, you can try the Highlight Edges or All Edges options. All Edges may leave unslightly "hard" edges, or double edges with a thin hairline of dark between the object and another edge. If that occurs, try Highlight Edges.
Correction via Profile
In addition to manual correction of optical aberrations, you can also use a lens profile to correct for all aberrations at any focal length. LR 3 comes with numerous lens profiles out of the box, and it is also possible to create your own. You have some ability to adjust the three types of lens aberrations corrected by a lens profile, but not as much control as with manual.
If your lens is not included in the list of profiles out of the box, you can use the Adobe Lens Profile Creator to create your own. The process can be a little tedious, but it can be handy when you have a LOT of images to correct on a regular basis.
Originally by user124. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user124
15y ago
0
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Lightroom’s CA tools can help, but they don’t always fully remove visible fringing. Often they reduce the color shift caused by chromatic aberration rather than perfectly restoring detail.
A good first step is to use Lens Corrections with a lens profile, if Lightroom has one for your lens. Profile-based correction is the easiest option and can correct CA along with distortion and vignetting.
If you adjust it manually, use the Red/Cyan and Blue/Yellow sliders to counter the fringe color you see, especially along high-contrast edges near the frame edges. The idea is to move the slider in the direction that neutralizes the colored fringe. Small adjustments usually work best.
Defringe is for removing leftover colored edge fringes that remain after CA correction, especially purple or green-style fringing around contrasty edges. It targets the fringe color itself rather than just shifting channels.
If the lens is producing strong aberration, Lightroom may only reduce it, not eliminate it completely.
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