U/W & photoshop newbie

[mddolson]

I'm new to underwater photography, I have an olympus c750 and Ikelite housing.
This is a shot taken in about 10ft of water, with no-flash. It's one of my first taken.
After reading through the tip & techniques and the tutorials, I decided to take a stab at seeing what I could do with the miage. Fortunately we use Photoshop at my place of work.

Here's the original shot. The original is aprox 1600 x 1200 pixels.
I now shoot at max resolution. This was my first day out with the housing
I'll describe what I did to it and I'd appreciate comments and suggestions.
This is my first shot at it.

Mike D

 

[mddolson]

This is my first pass at adjusting the image.
I down loaded the "mandrake" action (underwater3) and used that to adjust the saturation and red replacement.

The image original image has little white streaks caused by the slow shutter speed, and moving particles in the water. I used the healing brush to clean this up and here is the result. I was quite pleased at first, with the improvement.

There were two small areas I was not happy with though.
The mouth area ended up with a blue tint and the yellow coral to the immediate right of the angel fish was too bright and dominant.

Mike D

 

[mddolson]

I read through the "Saving the shark" tutorial and figured this was a good way to attack the two problem areas.

I created two extra layerers , one for the mouth and one for the yellow clump of choral.
I made a mask for the object by painting over them and then adjusted the colors on the layer masks.

I wanted the mouth area of the angle fish to be more gray and less blue, and I wanted the yellow coral on the right to be less intense, to blend into the background more.
I played with the levels manually unit I got what I thought look OK.

The result is this image.
Suggestion, Tips & Ideas are welcome.

Mike D

 

[PapaBob]

Welcome to the fun and sometimes frustrating world of underwater photography. It helps you to have some basic photoshop skills and you did well on your first try. I took a little different approach which I am happy to share.

Whenever I start work on an underwater image, I like to look at the individual color channels in the Channels Palette. Your image had a well defined red channel and IMO did not require a mandrake adjustment. If the red channel has no definition and is really "blotchy" then the Mandrake adjustment often works wonders.

Try adjusting the individual color channels in the Levels Palette (or if you are a real pro in the Curves Palette). Often this type of adjustment can produce a pleasing color correction. I used this approach with the image posted below.

As for the blue lips, I selected an area around the mouth with the lasso tool and moved it to a new layer (Control-J). I then desaturated the new layer (Image>Adjustments>Desaturate) and created a black mask (blocking the entire layer). I then painted in white on the layer mask to bring the desaturated lips back into the picture.

If you need more specifics, I am happy to provide them.

---Bob

 

[PapaBob]

Over a year ago I wrote an article for Scubaboard on color correction of underwater images. The link is posted below. The online version has a glitch that does not show all pages. In the blue box at the right select “Printer Friendly Version” and you can read the full text (printout is optional). I have also posted some actions that undertake some basic adjustments quickly and allow you to compare them (including Mandrake). Most seasoned Photoshoppers turn up a nose at any of the auto functions, but they sometimes produce very nice results easily. In fact an autolevels adjustment on your image did not look that bad. Here is the link.

Hope it helps some.

—Bob

 

[mddolson]

Bob,

Thanks for the referal to your article. I'll delve into it and play around.
I have tried with the 'autolevels' with a number of different pictures and got varying results, some like this one were good but others not-so-good.

I have tried adjusting the levels manualy, but still get lost.
I also found adjust levels, options, and either Enhance Per Channel Contrast or Find Dark & Light Colors to give good results.

I have seen reference to the 'lasso' tool before but being a newbie didn't quite understand so, I just sort stuck to the basic paint over it technique.

The gray mouth on your angel fish is more like what I was trying to achieve.

I'm still walking baby steps, here.
Could you describe the specific steps/pics in the technique you used on the blue lips .

I have seen something similar described for removing red-eye, but can't get it to work.

Mike D

 

[PapaBob]

Hi Mike:

You are right, the auto functions are spotty. That is why I wrote an action that runs through them quickly so you don’t waste a lot of time figuring out if they work on a particular image.

If you have any questions regarding adjusting the individual color channels in Levels after reading that portion of my article, let me know. The disadvantage of my article is no pictures and Photoshop is a visual learning experience. I will try to post some screen shots if you have a particular issue or problem.

As far as the option in the Levels and Curves dialogue boxes, Enhance Monochromatic Contrast is the same as Auto Contrast, Enhance Per Channel Contrast is the same as Auto Levels, and Find Light and Dark Colors is the same as Auto Color.

My steps to the lips solution. Adjust the image to the point where you want to correct the blue lips. Click on the background layer to make it active and hit Control-J to copy the layer. You will now have a background copy just above the background layer. Click on the copy, hold, and drag the copy to the top of the layer stack (it will block out your other adjustments but we will fix that in a moment). With the background copy active at the top of the layer stack choose Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. Your image now looks black and white, but we will fix that also. With the top layer still active, click on the add mask button at the bottom of the layers palette (it looks like a square with a hole in it). You should now have a white mask (ie masks nothing) shown by a white thumbnail next to the image thumbnail in the top layer you are working on. Click on the mask thumbnail to make the mask active. Then choose Edit>Fill>Black. Your mask thumbnail is now black (blocks the whole layer) and your original working image is restored. With the black mask still active, change the foreground color in the Tools Palette to white (easy, just type the letter “d&#8221 and select the brush tool. Then paint white (with the mask active, you can always click on the mask thumbnail to be sure) over those lips. This will let the lips from the desaturated top image shine through onto your working image below. If you actually see white paint on the image then you were painting on the layer image not the mask. Make sure that mask is active when you paint on it. If you overpaint or otherwise mess up, you can always remask by switching the foreground color to black (type the letter “x&#8221.

Actually, masking is more effective than making adjustments on selections. However, there are a lot of times a good selection will speed up your work. You should get a basic Photoshop book that discusses selection techniques and try some of them out.

Hope this helps.

—Bob

 

[mddolson]

I followed your steps and got it to work.
My colors aren't as nice as yours but It did work.

Here's the finished image.
I presume this works ok if you just want gray.
But what if you need something else.

The second image isn't diving related.
If you feel this is inappropriate in this forum I'll understand
These are our pet dogs. Normal red eye removal doesn't work.
I've been struggling with my dogs eyes since christmas and not having any luck
I know I can paint black or brown over them but they don't look real.

Mike D

 

[PapaBob]

Hi Mike:

What else do you want?

As to the pets, I hate demon eye. Suggestions are to increase the darken setting on the red eye tool before you use it, use the burn tool to darken the pupil (unless it still has color in it), paint with black at 15-25% opacity, or paint with black in color blend mode if all you are trying to do is remove the color. One or more of these methods may work to some degree.

---Bob

 

[mddolson]

Well since you asked..........LOL
How about 1 Million $ in used unmarked bills, mixed denominations, or better yet just deposit it in a numbered account in the Bank of Cayman Islands. LOL

Just kidding, Bob, thanks very much for all your advise, it is greatly appreciated.

Mike D

Hi Mike:

What else do you want?

---Bob