thank you so much to all who have posted links and advice re making some colour corrections for video. I played around with a small clip while watching one of the recommended youtubers Daniel Batal and was hoping for some feedback. I've put the straight out of camera and two options; I've had people like both (and some prefer the original!) so it's interesting to hear what is pleasing to individual eyes. These are the first edits i've done and getting input on what works and what I need to consider should be very helpful as I learn. I was using a single Kraken light fwiw
Video link https://youtu.be/2jolHTw_9nI
Photo screen shot attached.

Again, thanks so much for any time and feedback you can offer :)

Hi Kristin and thanks for sharing this.

I think the graded version is on the right track, but I also see two technical problems in the footage itself:

- the white balance on the SOOC camera footage is a little off - basically it is too warm on the artificially-lit part, and this is causing issues in the grading because of the strong contrast with the ambient lit background (which has a major colour cast).
The foreground looks better on the graded version because you fixed the white-balance by removing the warm cast - but there shouldn't be a warm cast to begin with.
And this de-warming of the foreground in the graded version, by cooling the image, has increased the colour cast in the ambient light lit background...

- you're only using one light, meaning the foreground is a little underlit or rather not lit evenly, creating something of a hotspot to the left of the image.
A second light would help light it more evenly, and then you could focus on grading to the artificially lit area.

The main solutions in my opinion would be to choose to shoot in a full artificial light dominant scenario, but then you need a second light, and importantly to get the correct white-balance on the lights.

The other solution, since this seems quite shallow, would actually be to shoot without the light (ideally with a good filter), after locking the white balance (say to 5600K).
You could then rebalance the white-balance point of the image in Resolve and would get more even results between foreground and background I think.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by bghazzal

I couldn't agree more. With a scene lit halfway between artificial and ambient light, you'll never be able to balance it all (with an action camera). So, it's either full artificial light or nothing.

How deep were you?

Since you dive often, try following our advice on a dive 😇

Thanks so much for the extensive input. I agree that this footage has serious technical issues and that a second light would make a huge difference, however a lot of the time I'll only be dragging one around with me and I'm comfortable knowing that I can't have the whole scene balanced - definitely a trade off! Glad to know that I am on the right track on the foreground for this first try. With the single light, I will concentrate of limiting the hot spots and trying to get something that is still pleasing enough, knowing there will be a big compromise.

This was about 13m in fairly darkish, bit murky conditions. I always think video makes the scene look better than it was, even before one edits!

I don't have a set of filters but Xmas is coming 🙃

I have been searching for tips on the action camera and found some re white balance & other settings, so have setup with some of those but today's dive was a bit ridiculously filthy (but still awesome) for trying much of anything. I have higher hopes for tomorrow where I will also try to remember to take some with no lights at all and some with my single light. Wind is coming up again next week so will have a play with more footage. Very much appreciate all the knowledge and suggestions - looking forward to trying again!

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Kristin

I found this Davinici Resolve for Under Water video playlist to be the best yet. I am a beginner underwater videographer (DJI Osmo Action 4 with BACKSCATTER GOPRO ACTION CAM SHARP WIDE LENS PRO and a single light). I have a little more experience with Resolve having taken a few of their excellent training classes and tests. However dealing with underwater videos requires those skills and more. That's where I found these videos to be most helpful, especially the node tree and the new with DVR 20 Chroma Warper. These are short, easy to follow videos. Color Grading for Under Water