I'm going through pictures from a recent trip to Belize. I had my little waterproof Optio W10 along with me and it was great to take along for our various water-filled adventures - caving, canoeing and tubing, swimming, and snorkelling. I spent three days snorkelling at various locations, and took hundreds of pics.
Tonight, I've been going through a few of the snorkelling shots - many of which are woefully out of focus (low light, moving around with the current, dang fish can't stay still) and most of which (even when in focus) have a bluish/aqua cast despite the "underwater" mode. In pp, as a start, I thought I'd try "auto levels" in Photoshop. And, I'm amazed. So here's one of the first, quick and dirty conversions:
The original jpeg straight from the camera (cropped and minor sharpening):
and the "auto-leveled" version (cropped and same sharpening):
I was pleased with the aqua version as a recording of what I saw (in case I wanted to ID the fish species). But, now I think I got more "keepers" than I thought from a more aesthetic perspective. I need to work with them a lot more, but I'm thrilled by the possibilities that until just 15 minutes ago I didn't think existed.
I'd recommend any of the Optio W series - the camera was completely immersed for probably 10-15 hours during the trip and you can take underwater movies in the pool too - a big hit with the kids!
08-30-2007, 12:06 AM
Linear Mode
