Figure 3.4. Color processing in different bit depths.

Digital scans stand at the beginning of the post production process. Color processing may make banding visible where the tonal variation of the original image appears to be smooth. The image color gradient on the left hand side is the original image in this example. It is manipulated with some typical tools in digital color correction (gradation curves). The second image shows the result of a 16 bit processing, while the last image is the result of the same process carried out in 8 bit.