Digital Photo ManipulationToday’s digital imaging revolution allows you to alter photos in any way imaginable—and make it look shockingly real. You could put your great-grandma underwater in poka-dot shorts feeding a garibaldi over a coral reef, and make it work. But why?
You must first answer the question on how you want your underwater photos presented? Here is where I am going to editorialize a bit. I have always felt that as underwater photographers, we are ambassadors. As such, we should portray the underwater world in the best light possible, but always as REALISTIC as possible. Radical digital alteration of underwater photos is a bad thing. It’s just too easy to misrepresent the underwater world when 95 percent of the population really does not know what it looks like. Radical digital alteration of your underwater photos is deception.
Just what do you want to do with your underwater photos? If it is a slide show or prints hanging on the wall, you may not need to head down the digital road at all. If a more elaborate presentation or publishing, web or print, is your goal, then digital may be very important. Digital control of your images give you easy and fine control of polishing the finer points of your photos.
What digital photo manipulation will do for your underwater images is polish. It allows you to show the real underwater world in the best light possible. With that in mind, this article will take a look at the main areas of digital manipulation, suggested software, and suggested techniques.
But first, we need to discuss how to get our images into digital form.
DIGITAL CAMERAS
For the last century and a half, photos were recorded on film (or glass) with a thin layer of chemicals known as an emulsion. The light hitting the film altered the emulsion. Developing chemicals are then poured over the film to bring out the image and fix it into place. The technology has evolved to a fine art with images of stunning quality.
It has been only within the last five or so years that photos have been recorded directly with digital cameras and only in the last year or so that the image quality and camera price has begun to approach that of conventional film photography. Cameras are now being made in the $500 to $1000 range that can produce an 8 X 10 print as good as most conventional cameras. The advantages of a digital camera is reusable “film,” easy and quick loading directly into your computer, compactness, and more shots per roll of “film” (memory stick or mini-disc). And you get rapid fire without the need of a motor drive. But quality falls just short of the best conventional color films, especially slide film. If it’s top quality you want, you are, perhaps, better off hanging on to your conventional film camera another year. For convenience, take a look at the new digital cameras.
If you choose a digital camera, go for the best. Resolution is measured in “megapixels” with the highest available currently (on the reasonably priced consumer market) is 3.34. The computer interface should be USB, rather than a slower serial port. And make sure there is a way to attach a separate flash. Housings are now available for many of the more popular digital cameras. And a final note of mention: many digital video cameras are now also incorporating digital still photo features. While this is an attractive feature, the resolution on these are generally quite low and you have to cease video operations to take a still photo.
GETTING CONVENTIONAL FILM PHOTOS INTO DIGITAL FORM
If you choose to stay with a conventional film camera, you’ll need a way to get your photos into digital form. Kodak now offers a service that will put your photos, slide or negative, on a CD. The consumer version of this service, known as a “Picture CD”, however, offers relatively low resolution, lower than, as a matter fact, most digital cameras. The pro version of this service, Kodak Photo CD, on the other hand, offers several resolutions, including a high resolution of a quality high enough for some publishing applications. While this service is more expensive, and takes longer to receive, it is worth the money and the wait.
SCANNERS
You can put conventional film photos into your computer with your own scanner. While scanners are more affordable than ever, low-end scanners just will not cut it for the serious photographer. Flat-bed scanners are the cheapest and worst tool for the job. First you have to put your image into print form. If you are shooting print film, you are already shooting an inferior film. If you make a print from slide, you are taking a one generation step away from the original. Prints from slide, though sharp, tend to be contrasty—and flat bed scanners are contrasty as well.
As a serious underwater photographer, you should be shooting slide (a.k.a. transparency) film. It has the finest grain and sharpest image. But 35mm color slides are also the hardest to scan. A flat-bed scanner with a transparency adapter is also a poor solution. The resolution is not adequate. The only option remaining is a dedicated slide scanner, an expensive proposition for most amateurs. A good quality slide scanner, with a resolution of 2700 d.p.i., will run $850 to $1500. Also, slide scanners lag in connection technology relying on older SCSI connections rather than faster USB or Firewire connections.
DIGITAL ALTERING PHOTOS
With your images now into your computer, it’s time to consider what you will do with them. For underwater photography, there are three main areas of digital alteration to consider.
FLAW CORRECTION
There is a whole litany of flaws that can be fixed in a digital photo editing program. The most prominent for underwater photography, however, is backscatter. Backscatter is specks of debris suspended in the water between your camera and your subject. They are often illuminated by strobes and show up as dozens, sometimes scores, of white specks in many underwater photos. While natural, they detract from the main subject and warrant removal. The “rubber stamp” or “brush” feature of your image editing program can wipe out these annoying specks by simply copying and pasting the surrounding material over the offensive speck.
COLOR CORRECTION
Color correction of underwater photos is nothing new. With computers and digital imaging, it’s just easier—easier to make subtle changes for clearer and more “realistic” photos or, in a bad way, garish and circus-clown colored. Because digital alterations of colors is now easier, more incompetent operators are creating images that are just not real. Leave the green water green. In California, that is the way the water often is anyway. And it is beautiful!
Some of the subtle changes you can and should do is more realistic flesh tones and separating subjects from background.
SHARPENING
An odd filter on many digital programs is “sharpening.” This filter is especially important in underwater photography. It helps distinguish elements in the photo from one another. And, as the name implies, it adds clarity to the photo. But as a powerful tool, it can be overused. Use it lightly.
OTHER TOOLS
Other filters and tools are not for polishing a photo but rather to alter the photo creatively. Remember this, because once you step over the line, you are going from reality to creativity and the two are very different.
PHOTO ALTERING PROGRAMS
The professional computer program of choice by far is Adobe Photoshop, now available in 6.0 version. It is a very powerful, yet expensive program. Expect to pay around $600. In spite of its expense, I highly recommend this program for anyone planning to get into digital photo altering in any depth. The program’s basic functions are easy to use and apply right out of the box, yet has very sophisticated features available. Enhancing additional programs, known as “plug-ins” are also available for more advanced users.
If you want a less expensive program, a “limited edition” Photoshop (Photoshop LE) comes bundled with some scanners or color printers. Also, the Kodak Picture CD (the lower resolution consumer version) comes with a very basic photo editing tool. And finally, there are a handful of other, more simple and less expensive photo editing programs available.
Underwater photos on your computer give you an easy way to polish your pictures to show them in the best light possible. Give it serious consideration, especially as it becomes even more refined, affordable, and easy to use.
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