Robert Herb Photography Blog

Blue water often serves as the stunning backdrop for many of our underwater photographs. Whether you're capturing sweeping reefscapes, schools of fish swimming mid-water, or a lone diver set against a beautiful gradient of cobalt, this backdrop plays a crucial role in conveying the breathtaking beauty of the underwater world. However, achieving that vibrant, lively blue in post-processing can be challenging. Without careful editing, your blue water might appear flat, dull, or lifeless, which diminishes the overall impact of your images and fails to convey the magic and vitality you experienced during your dive.   Over the past year, I've delved into how modern tools, particularly AI-powered masking techniques, can significantly enhance blue water photography. These advances have made it easier than ever to isolate the water from other elements in your shot, allowing for precise adjustments that bring out the actual color and depth, while preserving the integrity of your main s...

  By Robert Herb – Empowering Underwater Photographers Since 1978 Have you ever snapped a perfect underwater selfie or caught your dive buddy mid-swim, only to find their skin glowing with an unnatural blue or a vibrant reef bed turned bubblegum pink? You're not alone in facing this challenge. These strange color shifts can be pretty frustrating, even for experienced underwater photographers. Whether you're capturing action shots of dive instructors, taking portraits of marine models, or just sharing the joy of your dive experiences with friends, it's disheartening when the colors in your photos don't look quite right.   Fortunately, advancements in photo editing technology have made it easier than ever to correct these issues. In this post, we'll explore how to leverage the latest AI-powered tools available in Adobe Lightroom Classic 14.4 and Lightroom Mobile 9.4. These tools can help you correct uneven skin tones, eliminate haze, and create realistic underwater po...

  An AI-generated photo-realistic image that visually represents the new AI masking tools in action New Masking Features in Lightroom That Help Your Marine Subjects Shine For decades, isolating subjects in underwater photography was a labor-intensive process that demanded meticulous brushwork, manual luminance masks, and abundant patience. Photographers had to invest significant time and effort to achieve the desired results, often resulting in frustration and lengthy editing sessions. However, this once cumbersome task has been revolutionized with the advent of Lightroom Classic. The introduction of advanced AI-powered masking tools has transformed the workflow, empowering photographers to effortlessly select divers, marine life, backgrounds, and entire reef scenes with just a single click. This innovative technology saves time and enhances the creative possibilities, allowing users to focus on their artistic vision rather than the technical challenges of editing underwater ima...

An AI-generated image that best represents the content of this blog post. With the recent advancements made in Adobe Lightroom, I needed to update my previous blog post on this subject and align it with the new tips, tricks, and tools available. Underwater photographers are acutely aware that the ocean is a dynamic environment that transforms not only with the ebb and flow of the tides but also significantly with varying depths. At a mere 10 feet underwater, a photo might appear vibrant and color-balanced. Yet, as you descend to 60 feet, these colors can shift dramatically, taking on green, gray, or blue hues due to changes in the water's optical properties. The once vivid reds and yellows stand out in shallower waters and can quickly fade away, often disappearing almost instantaneously - faster than one can utter "neutral buoyancy.” To address these challenges and empower photographers, this updated guide provides an in-depth look at leveraging Adobe Lightroom Classic’s adv...