Hi everyone,

I'm a software developer and passionate diver, and I'm currently experimenting with image-processing algorithms for underwater photography. I'm also working on automatic marine-life species recognition, so I'm interested in images from a wide range of underwater environments and subjects.

I'm looking for some real-world underwater images to work with — ideally original/RAW images, but edited images could also be interesting for comparison. I'm particularly interested in challenging images with colour casts, backscatter, low contrast, or loss of red colours.

If anyone has a few older images they'd be willing to share for this kind of experimentation, I'd be very grateful. The images would only be used for testing and learning, and I would of course not publish or use anyone's photos without permission.

If I get interesting results, I'd be happy to share the before/after results and what I learned back in the thread, so that others can see what different approaches can achieve.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help!

Best regards,

Jurgen

This is off topic, somewhat, but if you REALLY wanted to do something people want it would be to port one of the open source star eliminator models like Starnetastro into an easy to use opensource backscatter eliminator which doesn't rely on Adobe (like the current backscatter eliminator does).

I have no programming background but I'm going to start experimenting with it out of the box so to speak to see if it'll do the job.

Hi Grantmac,

Yes, I'm actually working on backscatter removal as well. I already have a first version partially integrated into my prototype app, although it still needs quite a bit of training and refinement before the results are where I'd like them to be.

A standalone open-source app is definitely something I could imagine developing, although it would take some time to get it to a useful level.

Are you a Mac or Windows user? That would also be interesting to know from a potential development/testing perspective.

In any case, to get meaningful results, I'm heavily dependent on having good test material. Ideally, I'd need the original RAW files, and if available, the edited/final versions as well. That would give me a much better basis for training and evaluating the algorithms, especially for challenging backscatter cases.

So if you have some older underwater photos you're willing to share, they would be extremely useful for what I'm working on.

I'm a windows user, currently using DarkTable although once I'm home I intend to experiment with RapidRAW since it seems more user friendly especially for masking.

I'm a big fan of open source or at least non-subscription software.

Have you looked at Starnetastro? From what I know it's effective for stars which is where Backscatter Eliminator got started.

Yes, I know StarNet. At the moment I'm working on a macOS-only version in my prototype, and if everything works out well, I'll look into making a Windows version as well.

I'm also not a fan of subscription-based software in general, so I'd definitely prefer to keep it as a standalone application.

As soon as I get some images to work with, I'll run them through my prototype and can post the results here. I'm hoping someone will be willing to provide me with a few images for testing.

Let us know what you need, Jurgen.....

11 hours ago, Jurgen said:

I'm looking for some real-world underwater images to work with — ideally original/RAW images, but edited images could also be interesting for comparison. I'm particularly interested in challenging images with colour casts, backscatter, low contrast, or loss of red colours.

I have a large inventory of those! 🙄. Let us know how to send them to you. It sounds like a very interesting project that I’ll be happy to contribute to.

I have lots of bad photos 🤪 that I would be happy to share along with a few good ones. Let me know what you want and where to send them.

thanks

Bill

Thanks @Troporobo, @bvanant. I will post the whole info shortly.

I’m building DepthLight — a photo editor made for underwater photographers.

Created by divers, for divers.

The idea is to build a tool that understands the real challenges of underwater photography — from lost colors and backscatter to difficult lighting conditions.

DepthLight is still in development, and I’d love to shape it together with the diving community. Feedback, ideas and suggestions are very welcome!

Have a look and let me know what you think:

https://depthlight-site-c9a456.gitlab.io

@bvanant @Troporobo on the page is a direct upload possibility to my dropbox.

I am completely against the use of generative AI so if that is the intent I'd prefer to not contribute. However if that isn't the intent then I'd be pleased to help.

Once I am on a decent connection I will be happy to drop some images. Mine are entirely cold conditions with frequent poor visibility. I don't not, as a general rule, edit backscatter.

Thanks for bringing up the AI topic — I’m actually glad you did, because it’s something that matters to me as well. I’m not a fan of generative AI being used to alter photographs either.

Just to be completely clear: DepthLight will not use generative AI. In fact, I don’t intend to use AI at all in the app.

The automatic mode is based on measurements and traditional algorithms. It analyses the actual image and uses those measurements to calculate a good starting point for the correction. The goal is to make the process faster and easier while keeping the actual photograph intact and giving the photographer full control.

There won’t be any AI generating, replacing or inventing image content behind the scenes. The whole app is intended to work this way.

And honestly, every image can help. Different cameras, lenses, depths, water conditions and visibility all present different challenges. Every image and every bit of feedback can help me understand those conditions better and improve DepthLight over the long term.

So your cold-water images with poor visibility would be particularly interesting, but there’s no need for them to be “perfect” examples — unedited images are absolutely fine. And the fact that you normally don’t remove backscatter is actually useful as well.

Thanks again for being willing to contribute. Every image and every opinion counts, and I really appreciate it.

@Grantmac

Everyone who want to join: can go on the landing page than click Join and upload Photo.

https://depthlight-site-c9a456.gitlab.io

It would be great if you could upload the phots as zip, include a txt File where you can add some description or any other things you want to tell.

If its ok for you that I use your images for post in this threads and/or on the community landing page please write this in the txt file as well.

Otherwise the files will not be used in any way.

Thanks so much and best regards

Jurgen

I uploaded a variety of my most challenging RAW files. I chose ones with either ambient light or a mix of ambient and strobe. All are wide angle and only one is shallow/tropics. The rest are 10-25m depth in cold water.

I'd be curious to see how your program handles them.

Thanks so much @Grantmac

I will try to send them to my prototype App and will see where it shines and where if have to fix things. I will use them also for my strobe prototype and will keep you updated how things are going.

Thanks again 😊

I read the instructions this time, and uploaded RAWs rather than JPEGs. I did see your request about testing this weeks ago, but I see this time you got a better response.

Thanks @humu9679 Jpg, raw. Good quality not so good everything can help.

Thanks again and best regards

Just uploaded some files from a dive here in SoCal on Saturday.

Bill

Thanks @bvanant

I have also uploaded some challenging RAW images. Good luck and keep us updated on progress!

Thanks and be sure that updates will follow I was busy with the library features but now I concentrate again on the photo editing updates will come hopefully soon.

@Troporobo which images you think is the most challenging you uploaded and btw I love all of them.

Edited October 12Oct 12 by Jurgen

I’d say the two with a lot of backscatter are very difficult. The ornate ghost pipefish among a crinoid especially.

@Troporobo I will look your other images too.
For now I pick the only image you provided me as a jpg. I simply love this frog fish :)

<original jpg>

I use my automatic but but the white balance was quite of you I hand picked it. Madde a few small adjustments and ended up with this beauty.

100% crop on the eye

direct comparison

What you think guys?

That is a terrific result from a poor original, considering it was something like a 300K JPG. Nice work!