Post-processing question

[jmg1949]

First post here. Just got back from Cayman. Have an S 90 with the Canon UW case for first attempt at underwater photos. Used the Underwater setting in the scene mode for the first time out rather than raw. Snorkeling pics in 6-10 feet of water turned out great. My wife and and daughter took it on a dive to 80-90 feet but didn't use the flash. All of the photos have strong blue tint, little color and are quite flat. Is there anything I can do in Aperture (the only editing program I use) to restore some color and life to the photos. Lesson learned though about the need for a flash.

Thanks in advance.

Jim

 

[mitsuguy]

if you didn't shoot in RAW, anything you do to the files will degrade the quality significantly...

at that depth, there won't be much color unless you are using a strobe anyways though, no matter how clear the water is... If you want something cheap and easy to give you modest color correction, tint, etc, I'd suggest the software that comes with your camera, Digital Photo Professional... It definitely isn't as good as offerings from Adobe, but I used it for quite a while with great results...

 

[Puffer Fish]

Well, if you had shot in raw, you could have done a white balance adjustment. I shot this image, without a flash in about 75 feet of water (but there was 20 ft of BP's gift to florida making it much darker and blocking almost all the color.

I only used the canon software to correct the color.

Shooting in Jpeg makes that sort of correction impossible.

 

[PatW]

Well, it is laws of physics. The red light is absorbed very quickly. I forget how fast but I bet there are no real bright reds below 40' and probably even shallower than that. The other longer wavelengths go in succession. When you get down to 90', you are talking about nothing but blue and maybe some green light. It doesn't matter what your white balance is. It is still going to be a pretty blue world. If the longer wavelengths ain't there, nothin can put em back. The answer is to add em back - and that means using a strobe or better yet, 2 strobes. Even then, the strobes have pretty short ranges. Think of it, if a critter is 15' away, the light has to pass through 30' of water. If the object was as red as a fire engine, it would not LOOK that way even with a strobe at that range. That is why they emphasize wide angles and getting close. The closer the better.

 

[Gilligan]

There is a Photoshop Action file that will do a good job on your non-strobe
"bluish" JPG photos. You have to download the .atn file then place it in the "actions" folder of PS then open PS and load the action.

You can download it HERE for free.

As Puffer Fish stated shooting RAW is the solution. Next time .