The future?

[Palouse]

If this is the future of our art/craft, I want out!!

https://petapixel.com/2019/11/13/this-algorithm-can-remove-the-water-from-underwater-photos-and-the-results-are-incredible/

 

[bpdougd]

If this is the future of our art/craft, I want out!!

https://petapixel.com/2019/11/13/this-algorithm-can-remove-the-water-from-underwater-photos-and-the-results-are-incredible/

Just because you are invited to the future doesn't mean you have to attend.

 

[Butlerkid]

Uh....not quite an accurate description. I dove and did underwater photography. As you go deeper, various light spectrums are filtered out. Beyond about 30' or so (as I recall) you mainly have just the blue spectrum. Thus, underwater photographers generally use flash/strobes to capture "accurate" colors. (Think how flourescent or incandescent light changes the apparent color of things...or the blue cast of deep shadows.). It appears her coding is simply correcting the color cast........ It is not how the underwater world would look on land, but rather how it looks underwater with adequate light.

Here is a shot I took in Papua New Guinea. I used dual strobes to illuminate the foreground. Look in the background and you see the strong blue cast and apparent lack of other colors. That is the way it looks when you are diving without addtional lighting being used to compensate for the filtered light at depth. Many divers carry a flashlight so they can see the true colors when they are diving.

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[Palouse]

Love those pictures, Karen!

 

[rick_reno]

Here's a link to a paper describing what they have been up to

http://openaccess.thecvf.com/content_CVPR_2019/papers/Akkaynak_Sea-Thru_A_Method_for_Removing_Water_From_Underwater_Images_CVPR_2019_paper.pdf

 

[kilofoxtrott]

Is that still photography? I think it isn't...
Better call it computer gaming.

Regards
Klaus

 

[mrbeal]

"It's a physically accurate correction rather than a visually pleasing modification"... isn't color correcting a photo actually making an "accurate correction"?? Her "algorithm" shows her using color sliders..... I'm not convinced.

 

[Mike Buckley]

isn't color correcting a photo actually making an "accurate correction"??

You're correct that color can be corrected to produce an image that is accurate to the photographer's memory of the captured scene. However, color can instead be corrected to produce an image that is slightly to considerably different from the captured scene depending on how the photographer envisions the final image.

 

[Hylander]

You're correct that color can be corrected to produce an image that is accurate to the photographer's memory of the captured scene. However, color can instead be corrected to produce an image that is slightly to considerably different from the captured scene depending on how the photographer envisions the final image.

I think very few people, if anyone, can remember the colors of a scene with near-perfect accuracy, and I'm skeptical that cameras can be adjusted to render colors exactly as the photographer sees the scene. Personally, I don't see color accuracy as a goal, and I have no shame about playing with colors in processing to produce an image that pleases me. But then, I'm a hobbyist with no ulterior aim than taking pictures for my own enjoyment, and I have little interest in producing absolutely perfect images.

By the way, Butlerkid's images are stunning!

 

[Mike Buckley]

I'm skeptical that cameras can be adjusted to render colors exactly as the photographer sees the scene.

In all but the very fewest situations, the physics of light render it impossible to produce an image that is exactly like the captured scene. If I capture an image of my sofa, it's impossible to reproduce the exact same look when displaying the photo on any kind of light-emitting display or on any kind of printed media. That's because the medium that we use to display the image projects or reflects light differently than the sofa's materials.

Personally, I don't see color accuracy as a goal

I also don't have that goal, but that's only because that goal wouldn't fit with my style of photography.

If we're going to get into the realm of philosophy, what is the true color of an object? As an example, we can easily make any object to appear black, white or anything in between simply by lighting it to make that happen.