Monday's (12/15) Maui dive photo

[Gilligan]

Gun turret of a WWII Mark 4 Armored Landing Vehicle at 60 feet.

(F2.8, 1/40, manual mode, manual WB, no internal/external strobe, adjusted in Photoshop 7.0)

 

[Dee]

Nice. Is the water really that pale? The color just looks off to me. Are you using 'the mandrake' on your photos? They have changed over the last couple of months.

 

[Gilligan]

Yes, I did use the 'mandrake process' on this photo. It is a fine line to put the red back in the photos and still keep a blue water look.

 

[Dee]

I agree, it's hard. I've tried the process a few times trying to save an otherwise blue picture but to be honest, normally I just don't mess with the colors. I'll take out some backscatter, tweak the brightness and sharpen just a tad but that about it. I feel like if I have to do much more than that, I missed the shot.

It's amazing what some are doing with Photoshop! I really liked your kayak and big wave pic.

 

[boney]

Nice pic!

How much WWII related stuff do you see???
What's the "mandrake" process? Is it a filter in PS??? Or is this a 3rd party plugin?

 

[DivemasterSteve]

boney once bubbled...
What's the "mandrake" process? Is it a filter in PS??? Or is this a 3rd party plugin?

this is on Gilligan's website, he has a lot of great info there.

http://pt010.da-kine.info/adjustments.htm

steve

 

[Gilligan]

I don't see that many WWII wrecks here. I know the location of two of these type vehicles and a type of personnel carrier. I have found artifacts in the vicinity of them that often work their way up out of the sand.

It's a multi layer process in Photoshop that adds the red back into photos that were taken without a strobe. It was posted on this forum some time ago and the credit for it goes to a David Kusner a/k/a "mandrake" on DigitalDiver.net .
I posted the process on my PT-010 website (link below). You can download an .atn file there to install in Photoshop so as to be able to do the process from the "Action" palette with the exception of fine tuning the hue/saturation, auto levels and sharpness.

 

[boney]

I just posted a pic that could have really used the filter... DOH!
Thanks for the great info guys!!!

 

[Gilligan]

Dee, I redid the above pic and did not use the "mandrake process" on it. All I did was use "auto levels" and some "sharpness" adjusting in Photoshop.
I didn't even try that first. I automatically use the process on no-flash pics but apparently it's not always necessary as in this case. I do find that the Manual White balance pics clean up a lot better than the Auto WB ones.

 

[Dee]

Much better, the water is blue instead of having that lavendar hue. I hope to try the manual WB...if I ever se clear water again!