You’ve probably seen them on travel blogs, videos, and advertisements. Those perfectly post-processed underwater photos from scuba diving and snorkeling adventures in exotic destinations that inspire the strongest wanderlust in even the most seasoned travelers. And no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get the colors right. Does that sound familiar? In this guide, learn the art of professional post-processing of underwater photos in Adobe Lightroom. We’ll cover shots taken down to the limits of recreational scuba diving.
As long as you shoot in RAW, you should be able to post-process your underwater photos to professional standards, even if you don’t have a diving or snorkeling filter. The video below contains footage from two recent scuba dives in Key Largo. The GoPro had the dive filter on only one of the two dives due to a mental lapse on my part. Can you tell which clips had the filter and which ones didn’t? That’s the power of post-processing underwater footage with Adobe Lightroom and Premiere Pro.
Ocean Optics: The Physics of Underwater Photography
In order to fully understand the physics of underwater photography, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the visible color spectrum. In other words, it’s just the full color range your eyes can see.
As you can see in the color spectrum, blue light has the shortest wavelength of visible light, while red light has the longest wavelength. Long wavelengths have low energy, so they can’t penetrate far underwater. On the other hand, short wavelengths have high energy, so they can reach deeper depths. This is exactly why the ocean is blue. The water absorbs all the other colors in the visible spectrum, so all you see is the blue.
Water Has a Powerful Effect on the Color Spectrum, Even at Shallow Depths
Because water is 1,000 times denser than air, light behaves much differently underwater than it does above it. Water’s higher density means the light requires more energy to penetrate it. As a result, as you descend, water absorbs parts of the color spectrum, starting with the lower energy colors, or reds. The yellows are next to disappear, and then the greens. Even if you’re snorkeling you’ll notice a loss of red in your pictures in depths as shallow as 5 or 6 feet. Recreational scuba diving easily reaches depths where you lose colors.
| Color | Max Depth (feet) | Max Depth (meters) |
|---|---|---|
| Red | 15 | 5 |
| Orange | 25 | 8 |
| Yellow | 35 | 11 |
| Green | 70 | 20 |
| Blue | 490 | 150 |
Color Theory: The Foundation of Underwater Photo Post-Processing
All post-processing is rooted in color theory. However, it’s particularly important for post-processing underwater photos and videos. Dating back to 1666, color theory allows us to define relationships between colors and use mathematics to make precise edits to our content that ensure they turn out stunning.
We wrote a detailed post on color theory a couple years ago, which you can read at your convenience, but here are the key points.
- Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel.
- They look fantastic when combined in graphic design applications.
- In post-processing, they cancel each other out to help you recover the full color spectrum in your footage.
- Adjacent colors sit 20° to 45° from your primary color on the color wheel.
- Use adjacent colors while color grading to make fine-tuned adjustments to your image and add that wow factor that really makes it pop.
- Triad colors sit opposite the adjacent colors on the color wheel
- Give yourself even more power and control over your color correction and color grading
Use Diving or Snorkeling Filters to Make Post-Processing Your Underwater Photos Much Easier in Lightroom
Filters built specifically for snorkeling and scuba diving add the red spectrum back into your shots when you film underwater. When you import your footage into Lightroom, the filters significantly reduce, and can even eliminate the need for color correction and color grading. Even at depths of just 30 feet, notice how the photo without the filter is nearly all blue and green because the water has already absorbed the reds, oranges, and yellows.
We use these GoPro DiveMaster filters both snorkeling and scuba diving. The DiveMaster pack comes with three filters, but require your camera to be in GoPro’s protective dive housing.
- Snorkel, to be used at shallow depths no deeper than 6 to 8 feet
- Magenta, for scuba diving in green water
- Red, for scuba diving in blue water
The filters are all weather independent, so they perform fine in both sunny and cloudy conditions. However, be aware that the magenta and red filters can actually add too much red to your shots if you use them in water less than 8 feet deep.
GoPro Settings for Scuba Diving
Using the correct camera settings for underwater photography will make post-processing them in Adobe Lightroom far easier. That being said, you need to make sure your camera settings are correct before you get in the water. When your GoPro is in the waterproof dive housing, you do not have access to the touch screen and therefore cannot adjust any settings underwater.
Remember, these settings are designed to maximize the ease of post-processing. They are not designed to make your unedited images look stunning right off the camera. We’ve only used these settings scuba diving, but they should only need minor tweaks for snorkeling, if anything at all.
| GoPro Setting | Still Photography | Video |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution and Frame Rate | N/A | 4K 60 FPS |
| Lens | Wide | Wide |
| Output | RAW | N/A |
| Zoom | 1.0x | 1.0x |
| Shutter | Auto | Auto |
| EV Comp | -0.5 (Sunny) 0.0 (Overcast) | -0.5 (Sunny) 0.0 (Overcast) |
| White Balance | 4500K | 4500K |
| ISO Min | 100 | 100 |
| ISO Max | 400 | 800 |
| Sharpness | Medium | Medium |
| Color | Flat | Natural |
| HyperSmooth | N/A | Boost |
| Bit Rate | N/A | Standard |
Initial Underwater Photo Post-Processing in Adobe Lightroom
Before we open Adobe Lightroom and dive into post-processing our underwater photos, let’s look at the two images we’ll be editing. We’ll use the same one we used earlier that did not use the diving filter, as well as one that used the dive filter. Some of our unedited shots with the dive filter came out with a really green hue to them because the auto white balance on the GoPro really struggled with the sun going in and out of the clouds.
At first glance, both photos leave a lot to be desired. But rest assured, that’s by design. Because we shot in RAW, we’ll be able to fully recover the color spectrum both photos.
Cut the Haze and Make Sure Exposure Settings are Correct
Whenever we post-process any kind of photo in Adobe Lightroom from scratch, the first thing we do is apply our Post-Processing Starter preset. It removes the haze, adds a touch of sharpness, and gently brings out the colors of your image. It’s backed by the mathematics of color theory and works great on all underwater photos. You can download your free copy from our online store.
Next, under Lightroom’s Basic editing section, make sure the exposure settings are set correctly. You can certainly try the “Auto” button, but results for underwater photos are very hit-or-miss.
If you do have to adjust the tone and presence settings manually, start at the top with the Exposure slider and work your way down. Your end goal is to have a properly exposed image with no underexposed or overexposed areas. Don’t worry about correcting any colors yet. That comes next.
Finally, because the colors in unedited RAW images tend to be washed out, increase both the vibrance and saturation to enhance the colors. You’ll likely need to tweak them again at the end after any color correction and grading.
Start Post-Processing Your Underwater Photos with Adobe Lightroom’s Powerful Color Correction Tools
Color correction is nothing more than just complimentary color theory. Complimentary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel. When combined, they cancel each other out. Adobe Lightroom’s Temp (blue/yellow) and Tint (green/pink) sliders make an “X” through the color wheel, giving you near full control over the entire color spectrum.
To correct the blue color in the image with no filter, simply slide the Temp slider to the right to add more yellow. Likewise, add pink to correct that awful green hue in the second image. After the initial correction, tweak the colors with both sliders for more fine-tuned adjustments. By now, your image should look close to its final version, but you’re not quite there yet.
Color Grading: The Secret Post-Processing Weapon to Make Your Underwater Photos Pop
Lightroom’s Temp and Tint sliders are extremely powerful, but they can only make adjustments to the whole image. You’ll still likely need to target colors in specific parts of your image. In a lot of underwater photos, the bottom will look perfect, but the surface will be too pink. Color grading is your secret weapon that allows you to make these fine-tuned corrections.
Traditional color grading targets various exposure levels in your photo: shadows, midtones, and highlights. If the water surface is too pink in your underwater image, color grade the highlights slightly green or turquoise to remove that pink. Adobe Lightroom’s color grading tools give you complete control over the entire color spectrum.
Additionally, color grading allows you to fine-tune the colors in your image so you can get them just the way you want. For example, maybe the water is really blue and you want it a more turquoise or aqua color. Color grading the midtones and shadows more turquoise is a great place to start. Start with really subtle adjustments and strengthen them as needed. For even finer control, use Lightroom’s HSL/Color tools to precisely target individual colors.
If you set your camera settings correctly, you shouldn’t need to do much, if any color grading. On the other hand, any underwater images you shoot without a red dive filter will require much heavier color grading, but you’ll ultimately be able to recover the full color spectrum.
The End Result
Editing Video? These Underwater Post-Processing Tools all Work in Adobe Premiere Pro!
Premiere Pro has even more color correction and grading tools than Lightroom, which gives you an incredible amount of control of how your footage looks. The user interface is slightly different in Premiere Pro for post-processing videos, but the methodology and process is identical to editing photos in Lightroom. With the extra tools, don’t be surprised if your scuba diving and snorkeling videos look even better than your still photos.
Final Thoughts
Underwater photography is a vastly different beast than traditional landscape and travel photography. As a result, both filming and post-processing underwater footage in both Adobe Lightroom and Premiere Pro requires a special strategy and methodology. Using Adobe’s powerful post-processing tools to their maximum potential renders stunning underwater footage that will inspire wanderlust in even the most seasoned travelers.
