Newbie with photo editing question

[Farnboro Allen]

Thank you

 

[BoltSnap]

Here's a version with a bit more pop. A bit too much for my liking, but some may prefer it

Yes, it is a little too much.

 

[Farnboro Allen]

Search for the "Mandrake Process" for Photoshop
You can make significant color corrections to blue photos

I don't have Photoshop unless there is a free version. I do like that result though

 

[Farnboro Allen]

Doc Harry / Stiebs - if you are willing to detail what steps you did to get those results on the pics with just the one shark it would be greatly appreciated. I spent 2 hours trying to replicate in GIMP and not getting anywhere near those despite watching various youtubes!

 

[stiebs]

Doc Harry / Stiebs - if you are willing to detail what steps you did to get those results on the pics with just the one shark it would be greatly appreciated. I spent 2 hours trying to replicate in GIMP and not getting anywhere near those despite watching various youtubes!

Gimp is great, but IMO has a much steeper learning curve than other photo editing software. I have spent much time over the past two decades seeking out free and cheap alternatives, but ultimately the time and effort I spend trying to find cheaper software well outweighs the cost of good software.

There is a reason Lightroom and Photoshop are ubiquitous in the photo editing world. Although I use Lightroom extensively, I have shifted to Affinity Photo which although still more expensive than Gimp, doesn't use Adobe's inescapable subscription model, is much closer to the Photoshop experience than the Gimp experience.

Anyway, with that out the way, the overall process is similar no matter what software you use. There are a number of techniques that can be applied, with varying levels of improvement and complexity.

First and foremost is white balance. Choose your whitebalance "eyedropper" or "target" tool and select a spot on the photo which you want to appear as a neutral gray colour. You can then adjust colour temperature and tint to your liking.

At this stage you should have reasonable colour, but it will likely still feel a little washed out, so you want to adjust your brightness and contrast. This often means darkening the darks and blacks.

This is where the method for applying adjustments will differ between software. With something like Lightroom, you just tweak the sliders. With Photoshop or Gimp, you want to add adjustment layers. Adjusting the actual image instead of using an adjustment layer means you will lose colour information in the photo, and will also not be able to make tweaks after you make subsequent adjustments.

I'm not sure what filters Gimp has these days, but you may be able to apply a "dehaze" filter which is small amounts can be quite effective, but it very easily gives an "overprocessed" look.

Then it's colour curve adjustment (again, with an adjustment layer). Here you can adjust the dark/mid/light shadows for each colour individually. Usually means increasing the reds and decreasing the blue/green, depending on the water.

Another option is hue and saturation adjustment. You'll have limited success in overall adjustment, but by subtle shifts in the hue and saturation of individual colours, you can get good results.

 

[Doc Harry]

"Mandrake Process" for Photoshop

Make 3 duplicate layers of the background layer

Select middle duplicate layer
Fill that layer 50% grey

Select the top layer (the layer above your grey layer)
Change blending mode to luminosity
Merge down
Now your top layer is a black and white version of your photo

Create a new layer above the B&W layer
Fill that layer with red R 255, G 0, B 0
Change the blending mode to multiply
Merge down
Now your top layer is a red version of your photo

Highlight the red layer
Change blending mode to screen
Merge down
Now you have a much nice image, with the original image in the bottom layer

Play around with color sliders, auto color, auto levels, auto contrast, or what ever other adjustments you like to get the final photo

 

[Koalaroo]

I don't have Photoshop unless there is a free version. I do like that result though

When I am super lazy, and particularly for photos that are good enough, except for the white balance, I just use the free software "IrfanView" ... It has a pretty good Auto White Balance (Shift+U), but for when I don't like the results I can play with it manually (shift+g) ...

The software that's a bit more involved and offers more advanced photo editting options is "Darklab" - it's for free, and a little bit more intuitive, I find, than GIMP.

The only paid software I personally find I cannot live without anymore is "Topaz DeNoise AI" *lol* ...

 

[BoltSnap]

Darklab

As in "Darklab Tattoo Supplies"?

(That's the only Darklab I can find )

 

[Koalaroo]

As in "Darklab Tattoo Supplies"?

(That's the Darklab I can find )

I'm a muppet.

Darktable, not Darklab *lol*

darktable

darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer

www.darktable.org

 

[ROUS]

Also, explore the use of LUTs.