Robert Herb Photography Blog

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. ...

Wide-angle and macro underwater photos require different Lightroom editing approaches to achieve natural, professional results Understanding how editing differs between wide-angle and macro underwater photography is key to achieving consistent, professional results. One of the most common mistakes underwater photographers make in Lightroom is applying the same editing approach to every image. It usually happens after a dive trip. You import a full card of images, apply your familiar workflow, adjust exposure, warm the white balance, add contrast, boost color, sharpen, and move on. That approach can improve an image. But when applied to everything, it often works against you. A wide-angle reef scene and a macro portrait of a nudibranch may have been captured on the same dive, with the same camera, only minutes apart. But they are not asking for the same edit. Wide-angle images are about environment, depth, and storytelling. Macro images are about precision, detail, and subject isolation...