Underwater photography.

Hi there. I am new to all this and thought that I would post something to ask some advice.

Recently I have got an underwater housing for me camera and have take some good shot.

As I am still a beginner in this I knew that they were going to come out all blue cause it all looses colour as you go down.
So i was wondering if there was an easy way to put the blue back in the pictures without spending hours on it.
I have always uses paint shop pro and asked on another forum yesterday to see if anyone else had any ideas.
Photoshop was mentioned a fair bit bit i dont have that.

Also GIMP was another one that was talked about.
Has anyone used GIMP to sort out there pics.
Does anyone know how to script it into doing it all for you.

Any information would be great and a big help.

Thanks.
Paula

As you already know the issue is you are loosing color as you are loosing light. The only solution for this is to use a strobe (external flash). They can be rather expensive and involved, but without one almost every one of your photos won't come out. The difference is going to be shocking to you! Once you try one, you will understand completely.

You can try to use one of the photo editing programs you mentioned, unfortunately none of them are going to be able to work magic. You may be able to brighten up the images and add a bit of color, but the results will be minimally better.

Unfortunately I have been in this situation before, taking hundreds of photos while away on vacation, only to find out that the photos are basically useless(yes, film cameras not digital back then).

I am still unable to find a satisfactory underwater camera setup in my budget, but I have been fortunate enough to have friends that do. I also rented an U/W camera setup before, it was actually pretty reasonable and worked out very nicely. Unless you are diving on a regular basis a rental may financially be the best bet.

I hope I didn't get too far off the subject.

Hello Paula,

I have a little 5 megapixel point and shoot pocket digital camera. It's a Canon Powershot and it has an underwater setting, which adds red back in a little bit.

When I shoot photos with it, I recognize its limitations. I try to take photos in waters as shallow as possible so natural sunlight helps, and I try to get as close to the subject as possible.

If I am shooting a small subject like a nudibranch, I get as close as the camera's lens will focus, and I always use forced flash. This is a must, set your camera so it fires the onboard flash no matter what. For subject within 1-2 feet, this will really help.

Other than that, one or 2 external strobes will help, but using external twin strobes on a cheap point and shoot is sort of odd, better to wait till you have a pro camera.

I use Photoshop too to add red back in, and it really helps. I think there are economy style photo programs out on the market.

With the above steps, you should be able to get decent pics.

Paula, let me say that The Publisher is one of the photo experts here. I am just like photos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Publisher

Hello Paula,

I have a little 5 megapixel point and shoot pocket digital camera. It's a Canon Powershot and it has an underwater setting, which adds red back in a little bit.

When I shoot photos with it, I recognize its limitations. I try to take photos in waters as shallow as possible so natural sunlight helps, and I try to get as close to the subject as possible.

If I am shooting a small subject like a nudibranch, I get as close as the camera's lens will focus, and I always use forced flash. This is a must, set your camera so it fires the onboard flash no matter what. For subject within 1-2 feet, this will really help.

Other than that, one or 2 external strobes will help, but using external twin strobes on a cheap point and shoot is sort of odd, better to wait till you have a pro camera.

I use Photoshop too to add red back in, and it really helps. I think there are economy style photo programs out on the market.

With the above steps, you should be able to get decent pics.

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If the camera supports white balance and you have no filter, try setting the white balance against something green before the dive. This will have the effect of a redish filter making the pictures look more natural. It does not compensate for lack of lighting, just the loss of red, orange spectrum you experience loosing after about 3 feet of depth.

Paula, you never mentioned what your camera setup was. Maybe that would help determine the best steps you can take.

Hey!! wow, really this underwater photography is really very nice. I also want to do this.

Hi guys. Thanks for your input.
I have a Canon IXUS 990 IS with an underwater housing. it does have an aquarium mode which is actaully quite good. But not really good for diving. Ok for snorkelling. Still ended up tweaking all my pictures though which took hours.
Anyway one know of a quick way to do this.
thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lars2923

If the camera supports white balance and you have no filter, try setting the white balance against something green before the dive. This will have the effect of a redish filter making the pictures look more natural. It does not compensate for lack of lighting, just the loss of red, orange spectrum you experience loosing after about 3 feet of depth.

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Thanks for that thats the sort of info i was hoping for.. cheers.
I was also told by someone to take a slate down and balance on that to set the levels up better.

Does that actually work ????

Well, for video I have found white balancing electronically against a white balance slate doesn't seem to do much...

Trying borrowing one and see what works best. You can also get a white piece of cheap plastic, then one that is light blue-green and try it. You should be able to get 2 of these about 5" x 10" for under $15 at a plastics supply place.