Robert Herb Photography Blog

Understanding what carries over, and what doesn’t,  when editing still photos and underwater video in Lightroom 📘  Start here:   The Complete Guide to Editing Underwater Photos in Lightroom 👉 https://robertherb.blogspot.com/2026/04/editing-underwater-photos-lightroom-guide.html What Carries Over and What Doesn’t If you’ve been following the Back to Basics series up to this point, you already have a solid understanding of how Lightroom works for still photographs. You’re familiar with the order of operations, how White Balance sets the foundation, how exposure and tone influence light, and how presence and detail tools can either enhance an image or quietly ruin it. Then you try to edit a video. Suddenly, many of the tools you rely on are missing. Sliders behave differently. Advanced features you depend on for still photos simply aren’t available. For many Oceanic Explorers, this is where frustration begins to creep in. This part exists to prevent that frustration. ...

Subtle use of Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze  restores depth and presence in underwater  images without pushing them into an  overprocessed look. 📘  New here:  Start with the full workflow:  The Complete Guide to Editing Underwater Photos in Lightroom 👉 https://robertherb.blogspot.com/2026/04/editing-underwater-photos-lightroom-guide.html 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 ca...

Exposure is about shaping light underwater, not just making an image brighter. 📘  Start here:   The Complete Guide to Editing Underwater Photos in Lightroom 👉 https://robertherb.blogspot.com/2026/04/editing-underwater-photos-lightroom-guide.html 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...