Problems with white balance

[ScubaYakker]

The two best things I ever did to increase the quality of my UW video:

#1 Get a wide angle lens. I could afford the $3000 lens, but the next wider up from stock was around $800.

#2 Learn to WB underwater. I spent about $90 on an arm and a Gates WB card. I WB every time I have to clear my ears when descending, and when I hear my ears 'crackle' when I ascend.

It's okay to try and fix your video/photos 'in-post', but the time you spend on capturing better images, the less time you waste fixing 'em.

Mark
fiji water, fiji islands, south pacific travel wholesalers, fiji adventures, fiji weddings, dive travel, samoa islands - Cook Islands - Tonga - Samoa - Caribbean -

 

[MM4]

That's what I want too. I don't have time to photoshop or fix the photos......

I will try to WB next time I dive with my drawing board to see the outcome.....

What is this Gates WB you mention ?

 

[jkling17]

Here's my UW Basics Page - this will hopefully be of some assistance to you: Jeff's UW Photography Page

 

[firefly000]

Trying to understand the white balance issue....Do you have to re-set the white balance every time you take a picture or turn the camera on? I have a Oly C5050 / PT-015. No strobes yet. Headed for the keys in a coupld of weeks.

 

[jkling17]

The white balance setting will stay at whatever you last set the camera to. You only need to change it if you change your depth range. The setting will stay consistent through turning it off and then on again.

However if you change your camera from full manual (AS or SF mode) to Auto, it will likely NOT use your manual WB setting - until you change your camera back to full manual mode - and then it should still be using your last WB setting (part of that config).

By the way - your camera setup is just fine for uw - the pros at Coco View use the Oly and their results are excellent. If I recall correctly, the Oly UW case has built-in threads on the front lens - that can be used directly with Inon screw-on Inon lenses (different than the AD lenses - and just as good or perhaps even better). BUT either way - you need to remember to "burp" the lens underwater (remove and replace) to get rid of the air bubble when you first get in the water.

Please feel free to post your shots - we'd love to see them - and will help any way we can to provide guidance.

 

[Fishbird]

I agree with PlanetMarz. Shoot RAW. Use Lightroom and set the white balance later. (Yes, you really can set it later, as RAW stores the raw data as it comes from the sensor which can be manipulated much more effectively later on a calibrated monitor than it can underwater in the camera.) All the pros shoot RAW and do it this way.

Jonathan

 

[Fishbird]

It's okay to try and fix your video/photos 'in-post', but the time you spend on capturing better images, the less time you waste fixing 'em.

Mark, I couldn't agree more if we are talking video, where you can't shoot RAW, but must shoot to a compressed format. But I believe he is shooting stills with a camera that can do RAW....adjusting white balance after the fact is much more effective for still photography *IF* you can shoot RAW with your camera. If you have to shoot jpeg, there is too much loss of data. Same problem with video.

Jonathan

 

[Sonet]

How close do I have to be to the white object that i'm using to adjust the WB?

 

[jkling17]

Depends a little on your camera but don't worry about that - just have your slate far enough away so that it just barely fills your lcd screen. That's all. See my page for details on this and other uw photo basics.

SORRY - HAD TO MOVE MY WEBSITE - HERE IT IS: home.comcast.net/~jkling11

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

If you are using a strobe, shooting RAW and post-processing with DPP, CS3, LR, etc. AND you have color corrected your monitor, your images can look just like they did when you shot them (depending on your Post skill level).

How long does a strobe fire and where are you looking when it does? It is very subjective as to what any underwater subject actually looks like when you shot it. Memory is a tricky thing, especially the soft grey stuff. There is also the possibility that our brain is already color correcting when we are under water (adding red?).

I'm a firm believer that for most underwater photo's, once you get it right to your eyes on the computer, de-saturate and de-red a little.