Best fix I found using Photoshop.. For people with no strobes

[mood]

Hey guys,

Being a bit on the newbie side with uw photography, plus the fact i cant afford a $6K camera, i found this tutorial to be helpful in bringing back the colors. It worked for me much better than tweaking the levels in the pictures, especially for pictures @20m.

Step One:
Open an underwater photo that needs color correcting. When you're ready, press Control + J twice to duplicate the layer so that you see three layers in the Layers palette.

Step Two:
Select the layer directly below the top copy of the photo (it should be called Background Copy). Choose Edit > Fill Layer and select the 50% gray option. Leave the other settings at their defaults and Press OK to fill this layer with gray.

Step Three:
Now select the top layer and change itÃÔ blending mode to Luminosity. Merge that layer down with the middle layer so that only two layers remain. You should see a B/W image of your original image.


Step Four:
Click once on the topmost layer. Then merge that layer down with the gray layer under it by pressing Control + E.


Step Five:
Now, create a new layer on top of all the others. Click on the foreground color swatch and set the color to R: 255 G: 0 B:0. Then, fill this new layer with that color by pressing Alt + Backspace. Finally, set the layer blend mode to Multiply.

Step Six:

Click once on the top red layer and merge it with the photo layer below it by pressing Control + E again. Now, set the blend mode of the top copy of the photo (which should be called Layer 1) to Screen.

Step Seven:
Finally, merge the layer with the original photo layer below it by pressing Control + E. This should leave you with just one layer named Background. The last step is really simple. Just choose Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels to automatically give some more color and contrast to the photo. You can also try Image > Adjustments > Auto Color for some good results.

Sources:
Peachpit: Photoshop Reference Guide > Color Correct Underwater Photos
How To: Editing Underwater photos with Adobe Photoshop - Divester


Give it a try and lets see how you go

 

[ae3753]

There's a few Photoshop actions for this as well. Here's an example:

Underwater Correction

 

[rsldonk]

Is there an equivalent for Aperture 2 for Mac?

 

[CheddarChick]

There's a few Photoshop actions for this as well. Here's an example:

Underwater Correction

Can you tell me if you can use the actions in Photoshop Elements 4 or Lightroom? If so How?????

 

[Shoehorn!]

There's a few Photoshop actions for this as well. Here's an example:

Underwater Correction

How do you install that? I tried using the Extension Manager but Photoshop didn't even show up.

Can I just drag that into a folder or?

 

[djanni]

How do you install that? I tried using the Extension Manager but Photoshop didn't even show up.

Can I just drag that into a folder or?

Move the file to PS's Actions folder. PhotoShop Actions is a sub folder of Presets.

Once there you call it up under the Actions tab.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Is there an equivalent for Aperture 2 for Mac?

If you already have Aperture 2, then you have a much better option for white balancing your UW pics -- it's called the "white balance" function. You simply check the tool and pick a pixel that's white or neutral gray. See if you like the results. If not, undo and then try again with a different pixel. Super-easy.
Aperture is often used by people shooting in RAW format, but the White Balance functionality still works quite well on JPEGs.

I really like Aperture 2. It's a great option for photographers who work on the Mac OS.

Hope this helps...

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Hey guys,

Being a bit on the newbie side with uw photography, plus the fact i cant afford a $6K camera, i found this tutorial to be helpful in bringing back the colors. It worked for me much better than tweaking the levels in the pictures, especially for pictures @20m.

Sources:
Peachpit: Photoshop Reference Guide > Color Correct Underwater Photos
How To: Editing Underwater photos with Adobe Photoshop - Divester

@mood: You should know that the manipulations you describe are referred to as the Mandrake Method. A Digital Diver Forum member (and ScubaBoard user) named Mandrake (David Kusner) was nice enough to share how he was color correcting some of his underwater pics.
This SB thread begins with a description of the method and contains a post from Mandrake himself describing how he originated his technique.
Here's a link to Dave's website. Check it out. He's quite the topside photographer. Nice artistic eye.
Fortunately, the Divester article that you linked to properly credits David Kusner for the method.
Happy picture-taking...

 

[scottfiji]

looks like a nice method of restoring color in photoshop. Bubbletrouble, thanks for crediting Dave.

I just wanted to add, everyone should consider adjust the manual white balance every 10-15ft underwater with a small white dive slate underwater if possible, to get better colors when shooting ambient light. Once you get used to it, it's fairly easy to do, as long as your camera supports that.

Obviously you need to use photoshop for pictures that have already been taken.

Scott

 

[diversteve]

Another option is the Underwater Correct (Kedaffie) Filter, it's a one-pass add the red back in process. I've used it with mixed results, sometimes it helps to push the Hue/Saturation slightly after using it.

Download it from Adobe Exchange: Adobe - Photoshop - Underwater Correct