What is this dark halo & how can I fix it?

[frankg]

_DSC3110.jpg

This is a small area crop on a very large file
Sony A7R3 Raw file
In the Lens Correction tab I've checked the box to remove chromatic aberrations and to enable profile corrections.
Is there a simple fix?
Other than dodging and trying to match the surround which Ive tried unsuccessfully

thanks

[Doug Nelson]

Just a guess, but it appears to have been oversharpened (see the white line around the squirrel)

[frankg]

Yes, it is sharpened in Adobe Camera Raw.
But now I have turned off the sharpening (to 0) and attached another pic where you can still see the dark halo.

It is a very small part of a larger scene but even wide the dark halo is visible - Ive attached a low res crop that shows a bit more of the scene (I can't fit it all within to the 100kb limit)

I can kinda understand the white line as being an artifact of the dark/light contrast, but the dark feathered halo ?

[frankg]

I went back to the raw file and moved the Brightness slider back to zero (it was at -100). Now the image is washed out and incorrectly exposed but the dark halo has gone. I never would have thought that the Brightness slider would do that.
Now to try and get back to the look without the brightness slider mm...

[Doug Nelson]

I think you're taking the right approach. Methodically testing each setting is a smart way to go.

I'm still seeing sharpening halo even with sharpness set to zero. Did your camera capture RAW or JPG? It appears some sort of preprocessing was applied.

[frankg]

It was shot as a Raw file (I only shoot raw).
Processed in ACR.
i added a small amount of the new Texture (setting the slider at 10)
and some Clarity slider.
Maybe those are creating the problem you see.