Green water ... correction

[Sealizard]

Green Water.....

We have Giant Sea Bass congregating locally (that's probaly not the scientific explanation). A friend loaned me their Canon Powershot in a small uw housing because I was trying out new gear and was not overly confident that I'd make the 400 yard surface swim through choppy seas; I did not want to drop my own camera rig on the bottom. Aren't friends great?

Their instructions were to turn the camera on to *fish mode*. That provided a red filter which supposedly would take the green out... and we have a great deal of green in our water here from time to time. The end result is that my pics are still very, very green. Did I get something backwards?

I'm going to try and attach a sample photo. (Doesn't seem to work, so in the interest of testing, I'll send anyway and try to send photo separaetly.)

By the way, if the photo does get through, the shot is ambient light, about 25 feet under green *snow*, and totally *untouched* by Photoshop, etc.

[Jonathan Bird]

Does the camera have the ability to take a manual white balance? Very often digital cameras can be white balanced like a video camera. You put on the filter, go to the depth that you want to shoot at, point the camera at a small white card, like a dive slate, and it takes a reading of the levels of RGB reflecting off the card, then it's "calibrated" and you shoot and get pretty decent shots. Should work fine at 25 feet. Of course, you can't use the strobe if you do this because it will throw the white balance out of whack.

There are also filters for green water which are a little more orange than the filters for blue water which are reddish. I have no experience with them though.

Jonathan

[Daniel]

Greetings all,

I'm a relative newbie in underwater photography, started a couple of years ago. I'm still using the same camera Olympus C5050 Zoom and relatively content with the results this level of equipment is providing. It's the other part that requires a lot of work.... the photographer. Slowly but surely, I have seen some improvement and some of my peers have also provided some positive comments along the way.

I wish to extend a big thank you to David White, inviting me to register and also extend my thanks to Warren Lo for his ongoing support both as a diver and uw-photographer.

It is my hope that I will continue to learn and improve my skills-the bonus is in sharing it with other folks who have the same passion.

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[Jonathan Bird]

Welcome Daniel!!:)
Beware the camera addiction that afflicts us all and is contagious!

Jonathan

[Sealizard]

Hmmm.. interesting thought, Jonathan. I suspect you hit the mnail on the head with your observation that the red filter is for blue water - this is what the camera's "fish mode" defaults to. The manual says "this mode uses an optimal white balance setting to reduce bluish tones and record images with natural hues." It certainly took any blue out of this water and left pea soup in its place.

As you point out an orange filter might be a better choice for green water. There appears to be a custom setting for white balance, but it may only be available in close-up mode. I'll have to give it a spin.

Thanks for the input.

[Sealizard]

Yep, yep... you've come to the right place to improve your skills and get sympathy for your wallet. Welcome aboard!

Elizabeth

[Brad]

I have been using te custom white balance on my Olympus camrea and setting it at depth with a plastic covered gray card. It seems to set all the colors correct or at least more correct.
Brad

[Jonathan Bird]

That is a good technique that we use in video all the time when shooting ambient light. I can white balance a video camera down to about 50 feet with no red filter using a white card. You get decent neutral color. From 50-80 feet you use the white card and put a red filter on the camera, then white balance. (The electronics in the camera don't have enough gain to do the white balance without some extra help from a red filter). Beyond 80 feet, my experience is that the shadows turn pink and it looks nasty.

Jonathan

[Shooter]

I would like to thank you for this tip as it has finally allowed me to get ride of the greenish hue that has plauged my UW pics since I started.