Need help with Strobe Flare

So just got back from Yap and Chuuk, excellent trip. Have a couple of photos with hot spots in the corners from the strobes. Anyone have a fix for this kind of issue. See attached.

Thanks...

Fisheye lens it looks like?

You don't have your strobes far enough back from the lens plane. I would suggest pulling them back almost to your elbows.

Thanks Mike, enjoyed watching your DVD at Manta Ray Bay Hotel. I have the strobes way back, they are Subtronic Novas. I think my mistake was having too low of an ISO and trying to compensate with strobe power.

I am sort of looking for a Photoshop fix for this.

I agree with Mike that this is an in water strobe positioning problem. Most easily corrected/avoided in water and should not be thought of as a routine problem that needs photoshop.

I often say before anyone has their first lesson on strobe positioning they should be made to clean a backscatter covered image in Photoshop with the clone tool!

As a quick fix in Photoshop you could try a dust and scratches filter on the effected area and then a levels adjustment to darken that corner down. Here is a quick example - you will sacrifice sharpness in that corner as a result - but you can do this fix in 20 seconds.

Alex

I just realised that I processed that image in Adobe RGB - so the colours may look a little off.

Alex

Thanks Alex I will give it a try. You are both right it is a strobe position/power issue. I did have the strobes 8"-12" behind the plane of the port but many times when I tried to use them on full power I would get some flare like this. Was really an issue in the wrecks when trying to light some of the really large/deep areas.

Another sample: ISO 200, f7.1, 1/100 Tokina 10-17 (90% of my shots on this trip were taken with this lens)

Sometimes you see this in really particle filled water. No matter how far you pull back the strobes, you are still lighting up particles that you can see in the image. Pointing the strobes slightly out helps a bit too.

Regards,

James

I had the same problem in the wrecks at Truk. I think James hit it, lots of particles, & tight quarters to shoot.

Jack