olddog
04-12-07, 12:15
In underwater photography we are routinely handicapped by radical blue /green colour casts. Most people try to fix the problem using basic functions like the auto correction tools in basic programs like microsoft photo editor. Big mistake! :confused:
You soon find out that auto correction in these programs very rarely works. In basic programs or even advanced editing programs the col shift in diving photog is well diverged from the parameters designed into auto tools logic.:(
Most diving photogs then progress into a decent editing program like Adobe. Things get better but it’s a black art and not an easy learning curve. Adobe is a tool and a half to learn and not user friendly. Combine this with the specific problems with radical col cast associated with diving and we se why many people don’t get far.
So some stick with it and master the basics like the levels tool in P.S. Closing up the sliders brings a lot of good results. Once leveled the auto fix can then stand a chance of working.
So you start to get to grips with the Adobe beast and an awful lot of picks still just don’t respond to the above levels technique. The simple reason is that in the physics of light absorption most of the red spectrum is missing at depth.
So now for some black art. Supplementing some of the missing spectrum of red using data from the other channels. We are technically moving from image enhancement to the black art of image manipulation.
How is it done? Well in the past I have kept quiet on how I achieved some of the photo enhancement results not because I didn’t want to share the methods, but because the methods were complex for me to explain and boring for those not big on U/W photog . But thankfully video says a thousand words easily. This link beautifully describes the basics of channel substitution and it's conveniently biased toward diving photog.
pFhrTQJg6MI
It may look complex but a lot of what is been done can be compiled into an action. An action is a repeatable set of complex instructions that can be applied to any image in P/S.
This is one of the more basic techniques available in the black P.S arts. I am away for a weeks hol but will teach a few more tricks from the olddog black box if any of you are interested.
regards Olddog
You soon find out that auto correction in these programs very rarely works. In basic programs or even advanced editing programs the col shift in diving photog is well diverged from the parameters designed into auto tools logic.:(
Most diving photogs then progress into a decent editing program like Adobe. Things get better but it’s a black art and not an easy learning curve. Adobe is a tool and a half to learn and not user friendly. Combine this with the specific problems with radical col cast associated with diving and we se why many people don’t get far.
So some stick with it and master the basics like the levels tool in P.S. Closing up the sliders brings a lot of good results. Once leveled the auto fix can then stand a chance of working.
So you start to get to grips with the Adobe beast and an awful lot of picks still just don’t respond to the above levels technique. The simple reason is that in the physics of light absorption most of the red spectrum is missing at depth.
So now for some black art. Supplementing some of the missing spectrum of red using data from the other channels. We are technically moving from image enhancement to the black art of image manipulation.
How is it done? Well in the past I have kept quiet on how I achieved some of the photo enhancement results not because I didn’t want to share the methods, but because the methods were complex for me to explain and boring for those not big on U/W photog . But thankfully video says a thousand words easily. This link beautifully describes the basics of channel substitution and it's conveniently biased toward diving photog.
pFhrTQJg6MI
It may look complex but a lot of what is been done can be compiled into an action. An action is a repeatable set of complex instructions that can be applied to any image in P/S.
This is one of the more basic techniques available in the black P.S arts. I am away for a weeks hol but will teach a few more tricks from the olddog black box if any of you are interested.
regards Olddog