Robert Herb Photography Blog

The final edit reveals the pipes and nearby wreck structure while preserving the darkness that gives the scene depth and atmosphere. One of the easiest mistakes to make when editing a wreck photograph is assuming that every dark area needs to be brightened.   You can see detail in the shadows in Lightroom, and you know that information is there. So it’s natural to want to bring it out.   But should you?   That’s the real question in this week's Underwater Edit Clinic.   I shot this photograph inside a wreck. The pipes in the foreground are the main subject, while openings in the wreck reveal blue water beyond. Much of the surrounding structure naturally falls into darkness.   At first glance, the RAW photo might look underexposed. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the whole image needs to be brighter. The better diagnostic question is: Is the photograph underexposed, or is the darkness an important part of the photograph? That distinction changes the edit comple...

The Underwater Edit Clinic #7: When the Background Competes with the Subject Sometimes, the subject isn’t the problem.  That’s where underwater photographers can get themselves into trouble.   You look at the photograph and feel the subject isn't standing out enough, so you brighten it, add contrast, increase texture, boost the color, or make another adjustment.  But before you do, ask yourself: what if the subject was already working?   In this photograph, the turtle is clearly the main subject.  The exposure is working, the color looks believable, and the diver in the background adds context and helps tell the story.  There’s no need to push the turtle further.   The problem is elsewhere: a bright, colorful section of reef on the right side of the frame competes with the turtle for attention.  That changes the diagnosis, and the edit.   When the subject is already working, resist the urge to keep enhancing it. Instead, look for the parts of...

The overall edit was already working. The remaining decision was whether the entire photograph needed more adjustment or whether the seahorse alone needed stronger local emphasis. Real photographs. Real problems. Better decisions. Sometimes the hardest part of an underwater edit is recognizing that most of the photograph is already working. That is where this seahorse image became interesting. After I set the crop and worked through White Balance, Exposure, Presence, and Color, the photograph looked much better. But something was still missing. The seahorse did not command enough attention. At that point, the temptation is to keep pushing the entire photograph. Add more Contrast. Increase Texture or Clarity. Add more Saturation. Make everything a little stronger. But that would solve the wrong problem. The photograph did not need more impact everywhere. It needed more attention in the right place. Start by asking what is already working This is an important editing habit. ...

Not sure where to begin with an underwater photograph? That is exactly why I created Ask Bob: Find My Underwater Photo Fix . After publishing weekly underwater photography lessons for years, I realized  many readers found useful information but still had one practical problem: they didn't always know  which article to start with  for the photo or Lightroom issue  in front of them. Ask Bob solves that. Describe what is going wrong with your underwater photo, your Lightroom workflow, or what you are trying to accomplish. Ask Bob searches Robert Herb Photography articles and points you to the best place to start. How Ask Bob Works Describe the problem in your own words. For example: My underwater photo is still too blue after White Balance. My reef photo looks flat and has no depth. The subject looks right, but the water does not. The background is distracting from the subject. My wreck photo is dark. Should I brighten it? My image looks crunchy after adding too much Te...

When color draws attention to the edit rather than the photograph, back off. At some point in an underwater edit, adding more color stops improving the photograph and starts making it look unnatural. The White Balance is working. The exposure is working. The photograph has contrast, detail, and separation. The reef looks alive again. Then we make one more color adjustment. At first, it can feel like an improvement. The reds become stronger. The blue water becomes richer. The reef looks more dramatic. But look again. The red sponge is starting to feel too intense. The orange tones are becoming exaggerated. The water is beginning to compete with the subject. Instead of noticing the photograph, you begin noticing the edit. That is the moment to stop. When color draws attention to the edit rather than the photograph, back off. This week in The Underwater Edit Clinic , we are not trying to add more color. We are learning how to recognize when we have already gone too far. Diagn...