3D data visualization

I have an image that has some vertical lines where the data are artificially suppressed compared to the data around them. I want to present those data in a 3D plot. I have tried surface and contour plot but the problem is that the regular data overwhelms the data points in the suppressed areas. Is there a gradient-like plot to highlight the suppressed regions? I also used a quiver plot (and the gradient command) but the problem there is that I could not see the data due to the fact that the quiver did not have a color and they are too dense. Ideally i would like a mesh plot with a gradient that highlights the vertical lines but i do not know if that exists.