PS Elements advice w/ these two shots??

[sirthx]

This was done using adjust color/remove color cast and auto color correction. It does look like it lost some definition when I uploaded it.

Gil

Those are both pretty good, but it tends to be a bit more purple than it should. The turtle photo looks great, but would be better if the water out in the distance retained the deep blue. Thanks, Gil!

 

[sirthx]

Another feature that I use in in PS7 is the "Unsharp Mask" (under "Filters"). I don't know if Elements has anything similar, but I have found that the filter can make the image really crisp.

DamselDoc

Definitely. To me unsharp mask is THE most important step in almost any photo. When shooting RAW it's essential, but even with point n' shoot jpeg's it's a huge help. Gotta be careful not to over-use to the point of fringing/halos in the contrasty areas. That's my top-side photo experiance talking but seems to also definitely apply to underwater.

 

[Charlie99]

To me unsharp mask is THE most important step in almost any photo. ..... Gotta be careful not to over-use to the point of fringing/halos in the contrasty areas.

You can significantly reduce fringing/halos by applying the unsharp mask to a duplicate layer, and then setting the blend mode of that layer to luminosity (rather than the default "normal" blend mode). Then the unsharp mask will only affect the luminosity, while the color is set by the layers below.