Thanks @Troporobo I‘m also quite happy with the output considering that my app is still in early beta stadium

Photo by @bvanant (shot as RAW).

The straight-out-of-camera RAW had the typical olive/yellow cast of temperate water and looked flat. I went for a natural look rather than a heavy one:

- Underwater auto-correction as the starting point, then fine-tuned white balance to get the reef back to neutral and bring out the red and pink encrusting life

- Pulled back highlights to keep detail in the tentacle tips

- Two local masks: one to lift the anemone a little, one to tone down the bright out-of-focus growth in the foreground

- Moderate, edge-masked sharpening, so the tentacles are crisp at 100 % while the background stays clean and free of grain

The before/after images show the full frame and a 100 % crop.

Feedback welcome, especially on color: does the reef look natural to you?

Feedback as always more than welcome :)

Photo by @humu9679 (as Raw)

the water looked flat cyan and the shell came out mint green. I wanted a natural open-ocean look:

- Manual white balance instead of the auto correction, to get a deep, clean ocean blue

- Point Color on the shell only, shifting it from mint to its natural olive-gold without touching the water

- subject mask on the turtle for local contrast and clarity, with no color shift, so there are no halos in the water between the flippers and the body

- Gradients to deepen the water at the bottom and calm the bright surface

- Moderate, edge-masked sharpening: the scale pattern on the head and flippers is crisp at 100 %, and the water stays clean

The before/after images show the full frame and a 100 % crop of the head.

Again feel free to tell me what you like and what not.

This helps me to upgrade my skills and optimize my app :)

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by Jurgen

12 hours ago, Jurgen said:

Photo by @humu9679 (as Raw)

the water looked flat cyan and the shell came out mint green. I wanted a natural open-ocean look:

- Manual white balance instead of the auto correction, to get a deep, clean ocean blue

- Point Color on the shell only, shifting it from mint to its natural olive-gold without touching the water

- subject mask on the turtle for local contrast and clarity, with no color shift, so there are no halos in the water between the flippers and the body

- Gradients to deepen the water at the bottom and calm the bright surface

- Moderate, edge-masked sharpening: the scale pattern on the head and flippers is crisp at 100 %, and the water stays clean

The before/after images show the full frame and a 100 % crop of the head.

Again feel free to tell me what you like and what not.

This helps me to upgrade my skills and optimize my app :)

The water looks really good. Maybe oversaturated on the turtle. Here's my take. This was shot with a Olympus TG-5, RAW capture, likely set for underwater color balance existing light. Processed in Lightroom, as below.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by humu9679
correction

Hi @humu9679

Thanks for you feedback, with the water I am quite happy about the saturation on the turtle yeah maybe I put I little too much saturation on.

Thanks for sharing also your lightroom process. Very nice photo