What causes pink or purple fringes on portrait edges, and how can I reduce them?
Asked 8/29/2019
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I’m seeing pink/purple lines along high-contrast edges in some portrait photos, especially near the edges of the frame and in out-of-focus areas. This was shot on a Nikon D3300 with a 50mm lens at f/1.8, 1/500s, ISO 100, with no flash. What causes this, and what can I do in-camera or in post-processing to reduce it?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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As established in comments, it's chromatic aberration, specifically purple fringing which you see mostly at high contrast edges in out of focus areas.
You can mitigate it by closing down the aperture a bit, but after the fact you can reduce the effect somewhat in post-processing.
Nikon's own ViewNX-i is reasonably good at dealing with some of this, from the original RAW [.NEF] file, otherwise Photoshop's Camera RAW editor can have a fair go at de-fringing. [Camera RAW can work on jpg & png too, not just raw files.]
You'd do better from the original, but here's a rough attempt…
Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user57929
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This is most likely chromatic aberration, specifically purple fringing. It commonly appears on high-contrast edges, especially toward the frame edges and in out-of-focus areas, and wide apertures like f/1.8 can make it more noticeable.
To reduce it in-camera:
- Stop the lens down a bit instead of shooting wide open; this often lessens purple fringing.
- Watch for bright, high-contrast edges in the scene.
To fix it afterward:
- Use lens correction or “defringe” tools in RAW processing software.
- Nikon ViewNX-i can help when working from the original NEF files.
- Adobe Camera Raw/Photoshop can also reduce fringing.
One answer also noted that some fabrics washed with detergents containing optical brighteners can glow bluish under light and make the effect look worse, especially on white shirts.
Best results usually come from correcting the original RAW file rather than a JPEG.
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