Hey everyone. I took my first crack at digital underwater photography and I'm at a loss for words! No it was not such a pleasant experience since the water had about 5-7 feet viz only at twin rocks! I was using a d70 with 105mm micro and this was useless with the rocking motion at over 60 feet! I'm not using the af-s vr version of this lens and anyone who's got experience with this knows how the slightest movement throws it out of focus when you're just a few inches from your subject. So add to that a flooded mask and there goes the whole dive!

Question: After downloading, I noticed that the unpleasant cyan colors commonly found in underwater images from digital are in ALL my shots. I've shot mostly with velvia so I'm very new to this though I've seen it before. How does one deal with this color "infidelity"? Though the water itself was very "dirty" and already greenish to begin with, I was shooting micro and using a single strobe. So where did the cyan come from?

Shooting details: distance of lens to subject is about 3-6 inches / used inon d2000wn x 1 strobe f/8 with a distance to subject of about 5-9 inches / manual at 1/60 f/5.6 iso 200. WB set to shade since I was using strobe.

Dive conditions: Twin Rocks - swaying underwater at about 65 feet with 5-7 feet of viz. I think I was pressing the viewfinder too hard on my mask which caused it to flood most of the dive. I could barely see my settings and it was very difficult to look through the viewfinder. The illumination of the d70 was nearly useless as it was soooo dark underwater. It felt more like a wreck dive in subic! Add to that my huge frame so you can practically forget about streamlining.

Hi Pocholo,
Need to see your pics, and did you shoot raw ? I have shot in those kinds of conditions before and sounds like there is something going wrong technically with your pics.

Pocholo,
Yes, we've got to see the photos. Anyway, water acts as a weak cyan filter, cutting back the reds, which gives your photo a blue cast. A strobe is supposed to correct this, so I assume you probably did not use enough light on your subjects. It's also noteworthy that Inon strobes emit bluer light compared with Ikelites, which are warmer.

Hi Pocholo,
Need to see your pics, and did you shoot raw ? I have shot in those kinds of conditions before and sounds like there is something going wrong technically with your pics.
Hi Gutsy. Yes I shot in raw. How do I upload the pics to this post? Everytime I try to upload a photo here it says the file size is too big. Compressing it to fit the limit just makes the photo worse than it already is. Anyway I uploaded to my gallery here...if you can find it. Sorry am new to this.

Pocholo,
Yes, we've got to see the photos. Anyway, water acts as a weak cyan filter, cutting back the reds, which gives your photo a blue cast. A strobe is supposed to correct this, so I assume you probably did not use enough light on your subjects. It's also noteworthy that Inon strobes emit bluer light compared with Ikelites, which are warmer.



Hi Norman,

I visited your gallery and noticed that you also have that same cyan on your images. Linked your image here: http://www.vgalleries.com/templates/templatedispatch.jsp?templateset=snow&template=single_image&pictureid=687&prev=716&next=691&galleryid=169

I've shot hundreds of scenes like this using velvia 50 and ambient light, and with strobe, but never ever got these colors. As previously mentioned, this seems to be too common with DSLRs. How do you get rid of it without photoshop?

You mentioned that inon emits a bluer light than others. I suppose this is the same as Broncolor vs Visatec for commercial studio lights. I can't tell the difference man! At least not without a comparison, and even with something to compare against, it's hardly significant. Would it be the same case underwater or does the water media have more effects?

Hi Norman,

I visited your gallery and noticed that you also have that same cyan on your images. Linked your image here: http://www.vgalleries.com/templates/templatedispatch.jsp?templateset=snow&template=single_image&pictureid=687&prev=716&next=691&galleryid=169

I've shot hundreds of scenes like this using velvia 50 and ambient light, and with strobe, but never ever got these colors. As previously mentioned, this seems to be too common with DSLRs. How do you get rid of it without photoshop?

You mentioned that inon emits a bluer light than others. I suppose this is the same as Broncolor vs Visatec for commercial studio lights. I can't tell the difference man! At least not without a comparison, and even with something to compare against, it's hardly significant. Would it be the same case underwater or does the water media have more effects?

Pocholo,
I think you picked the perfect example of a crappy shot. =B) My DS-125 was a month old then and I was still experimenting with my manual controller. If I remember it right, I was too far from my subject (more than six feet), so the light didn't get really far.

Anyway, about the cyan cast, I can't think of any other way to avoid it except to use your strobe properly. If you are already doing that, you can also avoid it by using a faster shutter speed to make background water naturally bluer.

If you're shooting with available light, you need a color correction filter. Use an FL-B (for deeper water) or FL-D (shallower/green water) filter and do a manual white balance every now and then.

If you're shooting with available light, you need a color correction filter. Use an FL-B (for deeper water) or FL-D (shallower/green water) filter and do a manual white balance every now and then.

Thanks Norman. I'll keep that in mind. I got to do more readings on the Cyan cast from other underwater photo sites and it is indeed a common "problem" with digital. I'll need to do more diving so I can test this some more.

On the side, how do I post pictures in this thread anyway? The file size for attachments here is just too small.

On the side, how do I post pictures in this thread anyway? The file size for attachments here is just too small.

You need to "Save for Web" to get a really small file. Or better, you can upload your photos to your Web site, then link from here (Use the "Insert image" icon instead of attaching the file). Hope this helps.

Regards,
Norman

Hi Pocholo,
saw the pics on the gallery. one of them is blown out, over-exposed and the other one looks like there was no flash

Hi Pocholo,
saw the pics on the gallery. one of them is blown out, over-exposed and the other one looks like there was no flash
Hi Gutsy. At first I thought I was getting Cyan because of under exposure. You're correct about one photo not having enough light. My aiming must have been off or I don't know what. But regarding the blown out shot, where did the cyan come from?

just saw this thread...

using cs2 try Image -> Adjustments -> Match Color then check the Neutralize check box. hope this works for you.