Back to Basics – Part 5B: White Balance: Restoring Natural Underwater Color in Lightroom
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 plentiful everywhere.
However, underwater conditions are entirely different, and achieving accurate color balance becomes much more challenging.
Water absorbs color progressively with depth:
Reds disappear first
Oranges and yellows follow
Blues and greens dominate very quickly
By the time you reach moderate depths, your camera's representation of the scene no longer matches what your eyes naturally see. White balance is a vital tool in post-processing, allowing you to restore realistic, convincing color relationships.
It's important to remember that white balance is not meant to add colors that weren't present in the original scene, but rather to accurately reflect what you observed, helping your images look true-to-life.
The goal is realism, not saturation.
Where White Balance Fits in the Lightroom Workflow
White balance must be set before:
Exposure adjustments
Highlights and shadows
Contrast or presence tools
Color grading
Masking or AI selections
White balance plays a crucial role in how your image's tones are perceived, influencing brightness, shadow detail, and the behavior of your color tools. If you adjust exposure before setting the correct white balance, you might need to redo your adjustments later. To achieve the best results, it’s essential to correct the color first to establish a solid foundation.
Once the color is accurate, shape and refine the lighting to enhance the overall image. Taking these steps in the correct order ensures a more efficient workflow and a more polished final result.
The Two White Balance Controls That Matter
Underwater, almost all white balance adjustments are made using just two sliders, making the process straightforward and accessible.
Temperature
Controls the warm–cool balance of the image.
Underwater images almost always need to be warmer than the 'As Shot' setting. The optimal adjustment depends on several factors, including the depth at which you're shooting, the lighting conditions, and the specific water type. Understanding these elements can help you achieve more accurate and pleasing color balance in your photos.
Tint
Controls the green–magenta balance.
Green and cyan dominance are frequently observed underwater, especially in green water environments, temperate regions, or deeper ambient scenes. To achieve a balanced, natural look, tint correction is often required to stabilize color. It's entirely normal for underwater temperature and tint values to appear quite extreme when compared to what you're used to in topside photography.
Understanding these tendencies can help you make better adjustments and truly capture the underwater scene’s true essence.
Judge the image, not the numbers.
The White Balance Eyedropper: What It Is and What It Is Not
The white balance eyedropper is often one of the most misunderstood tools in Lightroom, but it can be a powerful, intuitive way to establish a strong starting point for color balance in your photos.
It is not a solution.
It is a reference tool.
When you click the eyedropper tool in Lightroom, it automatically assumes the selected pixel is neutral gray. Based on this assumption, it adjusts the Temperature and Tint settings to achieve a neutral balance. However, when you're shooting underwater, that assumption is frequently only partially accurate, since underwater scenes often have complex lighting conditions and color casts that don't conform to neutral gray. Understanding this can help you make more informed adjustments and achieve better results in your underwater photography.
Valid Underwater Eyedropper Targets
The eyedropper works best when you click on something that is:
Naturally neutral
Evenly lit
Not reflective or translucent
Good underwater targets include:
Clean sand
A white dive slate
Neutral camera gear
These targets give Lightroom a reasonable baseline.
Poor Eyedropper Targets (Avoid These)
Many underwater photographers often unintentionally select areas that appear neutral or plain, but in reality are not. This common mistake can affect the overall quality and accuracy of their shots, so it's essential to be aware and develop a keen eye for subtle colors and tones beneath the water.
Avoid clicking on:
Coral
Fish bellies
Bubbles
Water columns
Highlights or shadows
These areas often show color bias or uneven lighting, which can lead Lightroom to overcorrect, sometimes affecting the overall quality of your image. Understanding this can help you make better adjustments and achieve more natural-looking results.
How to Use the Eyedropper Correctly
Start with White Balance set to As Shot
Select the eyedropper tool
Click once on a valid neutral target
Stop clicking
Evaluate the result
If the image suddenly loses its underwater feel, turning gray or shifting heavily toward magenta, don't be alarmed; this is expected under certain conditions. Understanding these signs can help you better anticipate and manage the visual effects, ensuring you maintain the desired ambiance in your images.
The eyedropper has done its job. Now you take over.
The Eyedropper Is a Starting Point, Not the Finish Line
After using the eyedropper, you’ll often find that some manual refinement is necessary to achieve the perfect result. Don’t worry; this step helps ensure everything looks just right, and with a bit of practice, it becomes a quick and easy part of your workflow.
Typical follow-up steps:
Warm the Temperature slightly more
Reduce Tint if magenta feels excessive
Preserve blue water depth while restoring foreground color
Think of the eyedropper as answering this question:
- "Where might neutral live in this scene?"
Not
- "Fix this image for me."
Blue Water vs Green Water: Why Behavior Changes
White balance varies with the type of water you're dealing with, which can significantly affect how your photos turn out. Understanding these differences is essential for capturing true-to-life images in various aquatic environments.
Blue Water
Clear tropical water
Predictable color loss
Temperature does most of the work
Tint adjustments are often minor
Green Water
Temperate, freshwater, or nutrient-rich environments
Compressed tonal range
Strong green or cyan dominance
Tint correction becomes critical
This is why there is no single “correct” white balance underwater.
Context matters.
Strobe-Lit Scenes vs Ambient Light
The lighting you use plays a significant role in determining the appropriate white balance setting for your photography or videography. Understanding how different lighting sources affect color temperature can help you capture images with more accurate and natural-looking colors.
Strobe-Lit Subjects
Already contains warmer light
Require gentler Temperature adjustments
It can look wrong if over-warmed
Ambient Light Scenes
Lose warm color rapidly
Require stronger Temperature correction
Benefit most from careful white balance first
This is why white balance must be set before masking. Masks refine color; they do not fix it.
Why the Eyedropper Fails in Macro Photography
Macro underwater photography challenges almost every assumption an eyedropper might have, revealing fascinating insights into the tiny world beneath the surface.
Macro images typically have:
Strong directional strobe light
Extremely shallow depth of field
Highly saturated natural colors
No true neutral reference
Clicking the eyedropper in macro often:
Shifts colors unnaturally
Overcorrects Temperature or Tint
Destroys delicate subject color
When working on macros, it's best to skip using the eyedropper tool altogether.
The Correct White Balance Approach for Macro
Leave White Balance at As Shot
Make minimal manual Temperature adjustments
Use Tint sparingly, often not at all
Judge color on the subject, not the background
Macro color is about subtlety, not automation.
When to Stop Adjusting White Balance
White balance doesn't have to be perfect; what's most important is that it looks believable and natural. Achieving this balance is key to creating images that feel authentic and engaging.
You are done when:
Sand looks neutral
Coral colors feel natural
Fish colors look realistic
Water still looks like water
The image feels underwater, not topside
If the image starts to feel processed, you have gone too far.
Key Takeaways from Part 5B
White balance is the first Develop adjustment
Temperature and Tint work together
The eyedropper is a reference tool, not a fix
Blue and green water require different thinking
Macro photography rarely benefits from the eyedropper
Realism beats perfection
White balance is the foundation of capturing great images. When you get it right, everything else becomes much easier, allowing you to focus on the creative aspects and ensuring your photos look their best.
What’s Next in the Back-to-Basics Series
In Part 5C, we build directly on this foundation and start shaping light using:
Exposure
Highlights and shadows
Tonal balance for underwater scenes
Color first. Light second.
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