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Back to Basics – Part 5D: Presence, Texture, Clarity & Dehaze: Adding Impact Without Overprocessing

By Robert Herb Photography
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Subtle use of Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze  restores depth and presence in underwater  images without pushing them into an  overprocessed look. Back to Basics – Part 5D Presence, Texture, Clarity & Dehaze: Adding Impact Without Overprocessing There comes a point in every underwater photographer’s editing process when sliders start to feel like magic wands. A slight adjustment can make coral color pop, add depth to wrecks, or make light beams appear almost tangible. But push too far, and the image can quickly fall apart. This is precisely the realm of Part 5D. In this stage of the Lightroom workflow, tools like Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze can be game-changers, transforming an image from good to truly extraordinary. Underwater, these tools are especially potent because water naturally diminishes contrast, detail, and depth. However, wielded without care, they can also make images look overly harsh, noisy, or unnatural. This lesson isn’t about indiscriminately cranking ...
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Back to Basics – Part 5C: Exposure: Shaping Light and Tonal Balance Underwater in Lightroom

By Robert Herb Photography
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Exposure is about shaping light underwater, not just making an image brighter. Back to Basics – Part 5C Exposure, Highlights, Shadows & Tonal Balance Underwater Introduction: From Color Correction to Light Control In  Part 5B , we focused on white balance, correcting the dominant blue or green color cast characteristic of underwater photography. Once white balance is dialed in, your image usually looks  more natural  but often still feels flat, dark, or lifeless.  That is normal.  White balance fixes  color accuracy . Exposure and tonal balance fix  how light feels  in the image.  This is where many underwater photographers make a critical mistake. They try to fix exposure problems before color, or they push sliders randomly until the image “looks brighter.” The result is often blown highlights, muddy shadows, noisy backgrounds, and unrealistic contrast.  In  Part 5C , we slow things down and learn how to  see light und...
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Back to Basics – Part 5B: White Balance: Restoring Natural Underwater Color in Lightroom

By Robert Herb Photography
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Back to Basics – Part 5B White Balance: Restoring Natural Underwater Color in Lightroom White balance is the foundation of every successful underwater edit. Before making any adjustments to exposure, contrast, or sharpness, it's essential to first correct the  color bias caused by water depth, water type, and lighting conditions . When the white balance is off, subsequent processing becomes more difficult to predict and less precise.  In this Back-to-Basics series, white balance is the first step in the Develop module. It comes after culling, organization, and Library work, but before any tonal adjustments. This post  focuses on  practical white balance techniques tailored for underwater photographers , rather than  general Lightroom theory. Why White Balance Matters More Underwater Than on Land    On land, auto white balance usually gets you pretty close, since light travels through air with minimal color absorption and neutral references are plentif...
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Location: Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras
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