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Greetings,

I know what you're thinking - "this guy didn't search the forums before posting"…. I actually have been researching extensively for several weeks now, including several similar posts in this forum, and I've concluded that either my situation is unique or I'm just more dense than your average user (these may not be mutually exclusive lol).

So, as the title suggests, I am searching for guidance on color correction on underwater photos.  I'll preface by stating I am NOT a photographer, so my knowledge of post-processing technique is frustratingly minimal.  It is for that reason that I had previously just written off my failures, just accepting really dismal diving photos.

That changed when I was recently introduced to an iOS app called "Dive+".  On a whim, I decided to run its color correction function on several shots I had on my phone, and I was blown away by the results!  In more than one case, I actually "discovered" fish and corals in my photos that were previously invisible!  The ease with which the shots were transformed has inspired me to re-visit touching up many of my underwater shots, but as you can imagine - iOS is certainly not the best or most efficient environment to do it.  Re-visiting all the tutorials and articles on the topic, however, has brought me right back to where I began - slightly less crappy photos and a lot of swearing.

It seems the majority of the methods described in tutorials (even those for photoshop or other editors) just don't produce similar results for me as they do in the examples shown.  For instance, the vast majority of underwater correction guides suggest beginning at adjusting white balance.  In the examples, adjustments produce immediate color and contrast improvements, while my photos simply turn from "all blue" to "all green".  Additionally, suggested techniques using levels invariably begin with minimizing black levels and maximizing white….  In all my photos, these positions are already selected (and moving them in opposite directions only worsens the output).

While I'm certainly willing to tackle a mild-to-moderate learning curve, I have no aspirations of professional photography.  What's nagging me is the ease with which this free phone app is able to drastically improve my photos, as well as my inability to determine exactly HOW it corrects the images so I can replicate the process.

Below is a random photo from my collection that I hope will better clarify what I'm attempting (and failing) to achieve:

 

This is my original photograph:

2018_1224_123111_078

 

This image shows the output from the Dive+ iOS app:

IMG_2573

 

Applying "Auto" White Balance to the image in AP makes no discernable difference.  When manually selecting a neutral area (white dot indicates the area I selected) using the white balance "picker" as most tutorials suggest, a green overlay appears as shown below: 

Screenshot at Jan 15 10-32-18

 

This final image shows my sliders for the Levels adjustment layer.  Note that the sliders for black/white levels are already at opposite extremes, negating the ability to adjust in the way most tutorials have suggested.  The sliders for master/red/blue/alpha all have identical positions.

Screenshot at Jan 15 10-33-17

 

I've attached the original photo in case anyone is feeling gracious enough to play around with it.  The edits described above are certainly not the only ones I've tried - I've been playing with pretty much every setting I can find in photo, develop, and tone mapping personas.  While I am able to make some minor improvements to my underwater shots, they still don't compare to the difference I get with one tap on the iOS app.  Furthermore, the results are very inconsistent compared to the app.  For instance, I have freshwater dive photos that have a green saturation in place of the blue shown in this example.  Results from the app on those photos are equally impressive, yet the only similarity in my manual edits is the lackluster result.

I'd love to know what type of algorithm this app is using so that I can create some type of similar macro or workflow for editing in AP.  Heck, I'd even gladly pay to add Dive+ to my workflow if it were available on the desktop, but it is iOS/Android only.

If anyone can offer guidance on what I'm doing wrong, or direct me to any tutorial resources that are Affinity-specific, I would greatly appreciate it!  Sincere thanks in advance for any advice you have!

Best,

Kirk

 

***NOTE: I have no affiliation with the Dive+ app, nor any software mentioned.  It is not my intention to present Dive+ as an alternative or competitor to Affinity Photo; my impression is that the latter is a much more capable product in the hands of a knowledgeable user (which I am obviously not!).

2018_1224_123111_078.JPG

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29 minutes ago, DWright said:

Using the White Balance, Exposure, Brightness/contrast, Shadow/highlights and Vibrance adjustments I was able to create the following with your original image

 

1

@DWright , thanks so much for the reply!  I've played with each of the adjustments you mentioned (admittedly without any real tact or expertise) and was able to achieve similar results...  while the image is definitely improved, it still seems to be saturated with that blue-green-ish saturation.  I've overlayed the app output on your example for comparison - what I'd love to be able to achieve is the color contrast that appears in the overlay.  The yellow fish tails, red rust and blue water contrast against the white sand are what I'm not having any luck with producing in Affinity.

Thank you for the example and taking the time to edit - I sincerely appreciate the help!!!

K

dwright2.png

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21 minutes ago, MEB said:

Hi sonofzell,
Not sure how the colours were or what you are looking for exactly. Maybe something closer to this:

3

YES!!!!

That's the base effect I am trying to achieve - each color displaying accurately without the single-color (blue or green) saturation.  I might be inclined to play with some additional tweaks but your example is what I have been trying to achieve for weeks without any success!

I'm so grateful for you taking the time to make these edits...  I suppose you know I'm going to ask you for the specifics of each layer in your "Adjust" group... 9_9

If I can reproduce the result you've shown here, I'd love to assemble a macro that could be applied to the hundreds of my underwater photos in need!  

Sincere thanks,

K

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Try LUT.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Adjustments/export_3dLut.html

Your original file + adjust LUT (Infer LUT = your original file + Dive output file).

2019-01-15_232005.thumb.png.365b49b6c7dbecd8625d7b2b41ac6b80.png
 

Is possible save as Preset. 

2019-01-15_234553.png.f2e92842e348d8c9441bcc5cb9db9746.png

To create Dive preset I recommend trimming/deleting additional "Dive+" text/logo from Dive output file, which then affect correct color conversion.

Edit: And, ideally, the best quality files (lossless).

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

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  • 10 months later...
  • 8 months later...

@Pšenda I owe you both an apology and immense gratitude.  I completely misunderstood the suggestion you provided, and thus had originally dismissed it.  The ability to use existing images as inferences to create LUTs is something I was completely unaware of; I agree with your suggestion that this method is likely the easiest for applying general color corrections inspired by the Dive+ algorithm!

For anyone else that may have missed the brilliance of Pšenda's suggestion, I'll attempt to "dumb it down" to my own level of inexperience:

1. In order to mimic the Dive+ output, I needed two source images: the original, unmodified photo and the color-corrected variant output by the Dive+ app (for reference, we'll refer to those images as "V1" and "V2", respectively).

2. With the unmodified image (V1) opened in AP, I selected LUT from the adjustment panel.  In the setting dialog, I clicked "Infer LUT", which prompted me to select two sources (V1 & V2).

3. [Presumably] using the differences between the two sources, AP applies a LUT that mimics the adjustments between the source images you selected and applies them to the current image.  The result is astoundingly similar to the desired output of the Dive+ app...

O5IfFwP.jpg

4. I saved the new "custom" LUT I had created as a present, allowing me to apply the same correction to other photos with once click!

5. The source photo above was taken in the Caribbean.  Not surprisingly, the new LUT did not have the same results when applied to photos from the soupy North Atlantic!  To remedy this, I simply repeated the above steps using new source files from the murky environments.  Again, the LUT inference did an amazing job of replicating the Dive+ output:

232Ik48.jpg

Obviously, there's some additional "tweaking" that could further improve the output, but this by far the best result I've seen in replicating the Dive+ color correction on a desktop.  Thank you!

 

@donheff I've attached a few variants of the custom LUTs for you to play around with.

Dive+ Caribbean.look Dive+ Quarry.look

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Hi @sonofzell, I'm glad the suggested procedure with LUT works well for you, and thanks for its detailed description.

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

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  • 7 months later...

The infer LUT technique is a good idea. I more or less like Dive+, but it is painful and slow as a phone only application. 

If you dives are relatively shallow (less than 18 meters or so) and you are only using natural lighting, a red filter if front of the lens will help.

Thanks to everyone, useful thread.

 

 

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  • 2 years later...
On 4/9/2021 at 11:26 PM, Geoffrey Taber said:

The infer LUT technique is a good idea. I more or less like Dive+, but it is painful and slow as a phone only application. 

If you dives are relatively shallow (less than 18 meters or so) and you are only using natural lighting, a red filter if front of the lens will help.

Thanks to everyone, useful thread.

 

 

I would disagree,

after 3m Red tends to be gone completely and a red filter can't bring back red colored light that is not there anymore. Additionally a physical red filter will have always a fixed amount of color modification. So i would always prefer to to color correction in post production on my computer.

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