Help with low vis backscatter GoPro photos

[Collin O'Brien]

Hello all, I am hoping for some advice with low vis, high backscatter photography in New England cold waters. I only use a GoPro7 (no lights) on 1080p 60FPS, I might try 120FPS (I take stills from video as it is easier with GoPro). I got some really nice photos a week ago in New England on a very unusual good vis day 40+ft. This weekend I had maybe 20ft with a lot of junk floating in the water which made its way into my photos and ruined a lot of images. I know how to use cloning in post processing, but there is so much it just makes the whole image looks blurry. What is the best way to deal with this issue in lower vis situations? Will adding lights reduce the issue or cause more backscatter to show? I could look into a macro lens as well if that would help as if I get too close (within 12") the GoPro cannot handle it but when I backup all the backscatter gets shown.

What are your best tips and pieces of advice for dealing with these high backscatter images that come out too blurry to even edit. I feel like the image quality was just poor this time around compared to last week with the same camera. I will add the better vis first and an example of a poor vis day second.

Good Day:

Bad Day:

 

[mafi]

Adding lights might help - you need to set them in a way they hit the object only by the egde of the cone, an only as little water between the lens and the object as possible.

 

[D_Fresh]

I agree with @mafi . Lights are about the only thing that's going to help here. The light(s) should be set as far away (to the sides or above/below) from the camera as possible. Even if you don't need the additional illumination, it should help your subject "cut through" the suspended muck.

Otherwise, the only other option is time consuming post processing with iffy results, as you're already aware....

 

[johndiver999]

You should try to get as close to the subject as possible. Lights will always cause/increase backscatter to some extent. You can mitigate that effect by having the lights on arms that allow the lights to shine from the sides of the subject.

You might also try the widest possible camera setting. This allows you to get close to the subject, but it looks like it was further away. Wide angle is very beneficial in turbid water and you will probably think the water looks clearer in the image than you remember.

The closer to the subject you are, the less particulates will be between your subject and the camera. Adding artificial light on relatively close subjects will increase the color and crispness of your video/images.

 

[Chris Ross]

Lights are only going to show up more - sure you can set them so the light only illuminates the subject - but the bits between you and the subject will show up just as they do without lights - even if the exposure changes so that the exposure of the floaties is darker they will show up as darker blobs instead of somewhat lighter ones - they are still there. The floaties that are right next to the subject and either side of it will also be lit by the lights. It's only the cone between the two lights that's not illuminated, anything outside this cone will be hit by the light beam and show up.

The best solution is getting close - less particles between you and the subject. I'm not familiar with go-pro accesory lenses, the macro lens should help if it allows you to get closer.

 

[Collin O'Brien]

Lights are only going to show up more - sure you can set them so the light only illuminates the subject - but the bits between you and the subject will show up just as they do without lights - even if the exposure changes so that the exposure of the floaties is darker they will show up as darker blobs instead of somewhat lighter ones - they are still there. The floaties that are right next to the subject and either side of it will also be lit by the lights. It's only the cone between the two lights that's not illuminated, anything outside this cone will be hit by the light beam and show up.

The best solution is getting close - less particles between you and the subject. I'm not familiar with go-pro accesory lenses, the macro lens should help if it allows you to get closer.

Thank you for your response! What is the approach for people who are able to get clear shots of larger subjects like seals and sharks in poor vis conditions if you cannot get within a foot of them? How do they achieve such clear photos with little backscatter in this situation?

 

[Rollin]

Most images in print and instagram have their backscatter removed in photoshop

Your images are fine in my opinion.

 

[Chris Ross]

I find backscatter is quite variable even on the same dive it depends a bit on which way you are pointing with respect to the light and the quantity of floaties varies as well. The contrast with the background is also a factor, shots taken against reef show less than against water. Shooting up seems to work well to blend the floaties in to the background a lot of the time, shooting down tends to increase contrast as the deep water is a lot darker than the floaty.

The bad day ones don't look too terrible to me, I would happily clone away with the healing brush to deal with the backscatter there.

 

[HKGuns]

There is some noise in those images, software like neatimage, noiseware or NIK define, tuned properly, may help.

It will likely take some experimentation as it is difficult to do with a 1D model camera. Not entirely sure how a gopro image will hold together under noise reduction.

Hopefully you don't mind, I am not very skilled at this so you may think it is worse than the original. I ran it through NIK define noise reduction, adjusted the curves a bit and ran it through an unsharp mask.

The original you posted was fairly low resolution, so not a lot of improvement could be done. I would imagine with the original resolution you'd fare much better.

You may think this is better or worse, IQ is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Collin O'Brien]

There is some noise in those images, software like neatimage, noiseware or NIK define, tuned properly, may help.

It will likely take some experimentation as it is difficult to do with a 1D model camera. Not entirely sure how a gopro image will hold together under noise reduction.

Hopefully you don't mind, I am not very skilled at this so you may think it is worse than the original. I ran it through NIK define noise reduction, adjusted the curves a bit and ran it through an unsharp mask.

The original you posted was fairly low resolution, so not a lot of improvement could be done. I would imagine with the original resolution you'd fare much better.

You may think this is better or worse, IQ is in the eye of the beholder.

Oh yeah, the resolution is way down after posting online compared to the one saved on my computer.

The GoPro has a default setting for sharpness on high. Should I change it to medium or would that result in the camera not being able to pick up enough detail?