Backscatter removal

[Steve_C]

I use Backshatter (backshatter.com) to removed backscatter from jpegs. Not perfect, but quite useful for salvaging otherwise nice shots. $50, but they offer a free trial.

I also have back shatter. Works pretty good.

 

[Chris Ross]

I find the healing brush in photoshop the best tool for the job, often the worst of the backscatter is in the corners so creative cropping will lower your workload a lot. Using the healing brush rather than the spot removal tool seems to work better, you soon get a feel for where you need to sample from - clear water for spots over clear water, similar texture over background features etc. Go over and do all the easy stuff first then go in and do any spots over your main subject individually selecting where to clone from.

The other thing that really helps is a wacom tablet, using the pen to touch each spot is a lot less tiring than using a mouse and clicking, I find I can set it up to sample from the same spot repeatedly so only a single touch is required. To do this make sure the box in the toolbar for the healing brush that the box "aligned" is not checked. This way it samples from the same area until you select a new source - the colours don't need to match only the textures

There are various other schemes for blurring the backscatter with the dust and scratches filter but involve selecting and dealing with aliasing, which can be even more tiresome.

But in reality getting in super close is the answer to minimise it. Also shoot with the reef as BackGround (BG) not open water - I know you won't get that nice black BG, but on some occasions you need to choose between a black BG and your sanity.

 

[peterak]

I find the healing brush in photoshop the best tool for the job, often the worst of the backscatter is in the corners so creative cropping will lower your workload a lot. Using the healing brush rather than the spot removal tool seems to work better, you soon get a feel for where you need to sample from - clear water for spots over clear water, similar texture over background features etc. Go over and do all the easy stuff first then go in and do any spots over your main subject individually selecting where to clone from.

Backshatter does a good job of finding the individual backscatter points--up to hundreds of them--saving a lot of the work involved in using Photoshop. You can adjust how selective it is identifying backscatter and you can manually deselect spots that the program has incorrectly identified as backscatter. Pretty slick all in all.

 

[Storker]

Backshatter does a good job of finding the individual backscatter points--up to hundreds of them--saving a lot of the work involved in using Photoshop.

Is it available as a Photoshop plug-in, or do you have to use it as a standalone editor?

 

[peterak]

Is it available as a Photoshop plug-in, or do you have to use it as a standalone editor?

I think it's pretty much stand alone, although the site claims you can use it with Lightroom. It's jpeg-only, so I do all my preliminary work in raw with DxO Photolab, then export as jpeg and finish with Backshatter. At least that's what I do when I'm not too lazy to skip the Backshatter step.

 

[Laurie S.]

I use the healing brush in Photoshop. Zoom the picture and take my time.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[WetLens]

I use the method described in the video above. Works great for plain blue to black backgrounds. Does not work as well when there are lighter objects in the background where you want to preserve some detail. In those cases, I go to the healing brush.

 

[2ndjetty]

Lots of great input here. In my experience, photoshop layer masks are obvious to spot by photo editors (you can see the soft or over-sharpened area). It's best to remove backscatter one piece at a time.

If you use Lightroom to manage your photo organization and editing workflow, then you can use the heal/clone brushes in there without exporting to Photoshop - a huge timesaver.

Here's a 7+ minute tutorial on how to do that quickly: tutorials.brentdurand.com/removing-backscatter-in-lightroom

And like mentioned above, proper Strobe Positioning and These Techniques to Minimize Backscatter should be second nature.

Good luck!