Underwater photos often look very different from what you remember seeing when you took the shot. Colors can appear muted or shifted toward green and cyan, subjects can look blue, and water can make the entire image appear hazy or lacking in contrast.
The good news is that you can correct many of these problems directly in Lightroom. You don't need to completely transform the photo—you usually need to restore the colors and contrast that were lost underwater.
In this guide, I'll walk through how to edit underwater photos in Lightroom, from the initial white balance correction through color, contrast, clarity, and final adjustments.
The goal isn't to give you a collection of arbitrary Lightroom settings. Instead, I'll show you what to look for on your screen, which adjustment to make, and how to know when you've gone too far.
Why do underwater photos need so much editing?
Water absorbs light differently depending on its wavelength. Red and orange wavelengths disappear relatively quickly, while blue and green light travels farther.
This is why underwater photos often have a strong blue or green cast, especially when you're shooting deeper underwater or without artificial lighting.
Water also scatters light, reducing contrast and making distant subjects appear hazy. The result can be a photo that looks flat, desaturated and much less colorful than the scene looked in person.
Lightroom can correct many of these problems, but there's an important principle to keep in mind:
A good underwater edit usually still looks like it was taken underwater.
1. Start with the white balance
White balance is usually the first thing I adjust when editing an underwater photo.
If your image has a strong blue or green cast, Lightroom's Temperature and Tint controls can help bring the subject's colors back toward normal.
Start by increasing the Temperature slightly to warm the image.
What should you look for?
Don't try to make the entire image neutral.
Instead, look at the subject's skin, sand, rocks, animals, or other objects that you know should have relatively natural colors.
As you increase Temperature:
- Skin should start looking less blue.
- White objects should become less blue or cyan.
- Red and orange details should start becoming visible again.
- The water will usually become warmer too.
Stop when the subject begins to look natural. The photo will not look perfect yet. Just get that subject looking as natural as possible. This is just the starting point.
If you keep increasing Temperature until the water itself looks neutral, you've probably gone too far. The water should generally retain some of its characteristic blue or cyan appearance.
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Notice how there's only a subtle difference between the two? You can see the turtle has less of a green cast, the white elements on the diver's fins look more natural and the sand looks whiter. Sure, it's not perfect yet. But this is just step one.
Don't forget the Tint slider
If the image still looks noticeably green after adjusting Temperature, move the Tint slider toward magenta.
Make small adjustments and watch a neutral part of the image while you do it.
For example, if a diver's white tank or a white piece of equipment still looks green, increase Tint gradually until that object looks neutral.
Be careful: too much magenta can make skin look pink and can give the entire image an unnatural purple cast.
In the example above, if I had moved the Tint slider further, I could have gotten rid of all the green on the turtle. But then the water would have turned purple.
2. Restore the colors that disappeared underwater
Once the white balance is roughly correct, look at the overall color in the image.
Underwater photos often have less visible red, orange and yellow than they should.
This is where the Vibrance and Saturation controls can help.
Start with Vibrance rather than immediately increasing Saturation.
What should you look for?
Increase Vibrance slowly and watch the subject.
You're looking for colors to become more recognizable and separated, not simply more intense.
For example:
- Skin should regain warmer tones.
- Corals should become more colorful.
- Fish should regain some of their natural colors.
- Sand should look less gray or blue.
If the photo starts looking unnaturally colorful, back the adjustment down.
Why Vibrance instead of Saturation?
Saturation affects essentially every color in the image.
Vibrance is generally more restrained, making it a better starting point when an underwater image simply looks washed out.
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Here, only vibrance has been increased.
Don't try to fix everything with Saturation
This is a common mistake with underwater photos.
If you have to push Saturation very high just to make the subject colorful, the problem may actually be white balance, color mix, or missing contrast.
A photo with correct color and moderate saturation will usually look much more natural than a photo with extreme saturation.
3. Fix green or cyan water
One of the most common problems in underwater photography is green or cyan water, even after you've dialled in the correct white balance.
If your photo has a strong green cast, don't immediately try to turn the entire image blue.
Instead, use Lightroom's Color Mixer to target the problematic colors.
Open Color Mixer and select Green or Aqua/Cyan, depending on what your image looks like.
If the water looks too green
Start by reducing the Saturation of the green and aqua channels slightly.
Now shift the Hue of the green channel towards aqua, and the aqua towards the blues.
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Don't aim for these values. This is just to give you an idea of the direction. Every photo is different, so every setting will be different. |
Watch the water while making the adjustment.
You want the green cast to become less distracting without making plants, algae or other genuinely green subjects look gray.
Stop as soon as the water looks more natural.
What you're looking for
A reef photographed in shallow tropical water might naturally be turquoise. A deeper photograph may naturally contain much more blue. Don't force every underwater photograph into the same color.
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4. Bring back contrast and depth
After correcting the color, your photo may still look flat.
That's because water scatters light, reducing the difference between bright and dark areas.
Start by looking at the Contrast slider in Lightroom's Basic panel. Increase it gradually and watch the subject.
You're looking for more separation between the subject and its surroundings, as well as within the subject. Here, notice how the coral stands out a bit more and looks more 3-dimensional, due to the stronger contrast between its light and dark areas.
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Again, a slight but noticeable difference. That's all we want. Contrast will likely increase with the next steps, so don't overdo it here. You can always increase it more later.
Watch the shadows
If increasing Contrast makes the darker areas of the image completely black, you've gone too far.
You should still be able to see detail in the darker areas such as a diver's gear, rocks, or darker parts of the reef.
If the shadows are becoming too dark, reduce Contrast slightly and then increase Shadows to bring back detail in the darker areas.
Watch the highlights
The opposite can happen with bright areas.
If increasing contrast causes white equipment, bubbles or bright sand to lose detail, reduce Highlights.
A useful test is to look at the brightest parts of the image and ask:
Can I still see texture and detail there?
If not, pull the Highlights down.
5. Restore clarity and reduce the underwater haze
Underwater images often lack the crispness you expect from a photograph taken in air.
This is partly caused by light scattering through the water.
Lightroom's Clarity and Dehaze controls can help. But this is one area where it's very easy to over-edit.
Start with Clarity
Increase Clarity gradually while watching edges and fine details.
You should start to see things like fish scales becoming more defined, coral texture becoming clearer, a diver’s equipment looking sharper, and edges becoming more distinct.
Stop when the subject looks clearer.
If the image starts looking crunchy, harsh or overly processed, you've gone too far.
Then try Dehaze
Dehaze can be particularly useful when the water looks milky or foggy.
Increase it slowly and watch the area between the camera and the subject. You should see the image gain depth and contrast.
But don't judge Dehaze only by how dramatic the image looks. If the water becomes unnaturally dark or the subject develops very harsh edges, reduce the setting.
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Dehaze is a very powerful tool. Be careful not to over-use it to keep your photo looking realistic.
6. Make the subject stand out from the water
At this point, the image may have good color and contrast but still lack impact.
This is where local adjustments can make a big difference.
Instead of increasing clarity, contrast or saturation across the entire image, selectively enhance the subject.
Use Lightroom's Masking tools to select the diver, animal or other main subject. You can then make small adjustments to the masked area.
For example, you might slightly increase:
- Exposure
- Contrast
- Temperature
- Texture
- Clarity
What should you look for?
Compare the subject to the surrounding water. You want the viewer's eye to naturally go toward the subject.
If the subject immediately jumps out because it is much brighter, sharper, or more saturated than everything around it, you've probably overdone it.
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Less is more. On the left you can see the subject still has a slight cold blue cast, letting him blend in with the water just a bit too much. On the right, the subject has been warmed up ever so slightly, making the skin look more natural and letting him stand out more.
7. Use the Color Mixer for specific colors
Once the major corrections are finished, you can use the Color Mixer to fine-tune individual colors.
This is especially useful for underwater photographs because the different elements of the image can require very different treatment.
For example, you may want to:
Bring out orange on a fish:
Select the orange channel and increase saturation slightly, then adjust luminance if you want the color to stand out more.
Make coral more colorful:
Adjust the relevant red, orange, or magenta channels rather than increasing overall saturation. See the example below.
Restore warmer tones in skin:
Work on the orange and red channels, increasing their saturation slightly or shifting the hue toward warmer tones.
The important thing is to work color by color, rather than increasing global saturation.
A practical way to do this
Pick one important color in your image and adjust it deliberately rather than moving several sliders at once.
Adjust Hue to change the actual shade of the color. For example, you can shift a green slightly toward yellow or a cyan toward blue.
Then adjust Saturation to control how strong and vivid that color appears. Increasing it can give an important subject more impact, while reducing it can help tone down a distracting color.
Finally, adjust Luminance to make that color brighter or darker. This can help a subject stand out from its surroundings or prevent a color from becoming too bright and distracting.
After each change, look back at the entire image.
If you can't tell what the adjustment actually improved, undo it.
This keeps the edit purposeful instead of turning the Color Mixer into a collection of random slider adjustments.
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Here I've picked the colors of the coral and enhanced them individually by increasing the saturation of red, orange and yellow, while also giving them a little more luminance. Notice how I've also shifted the hue of red slightly away from orange? That helps the red coral in the foreground stand out a bit more against the neighbouring orange and yellow ones.
8. Finish with exposure and tonal adjustments
Now that the colors and contrast are under control, go back and look at the overall brightness.
It's often easier to judge exposure correctly after the color correction has been done.
Adjust Exposure until the image has the overall brightness you want.
Then check:
Highlights: Are bright areas still showing detail? If not, decrease Highlights slightly.
Shadows: Can you still see important details in dark areas? If not, increase Shadows.
Whites: If they look dull, increase Whites slightly until the brightest parts of the image feel bright without losing detail. If important areas start turning completely white, pull Whites back.
Blacks: If they look too flat, decrease Blacks slightly to deepen the darkest areas. If you start losing detail in things like dark equipment, rocks, or shadows, increase Blacks again.
Don't worry about achieving a particular numerical setting.
Every underwater photograph is different.
A photo taken in shallow tropical water, a deep wreck photograph and a pool portrait will require completely different adjustments.
How to Edit Underwater Photos Faster with Lightroom Presets
If you've already worked through the adjustments in this guide, you may find that some of the same corrections come up again and again. One photo might have a strong green cast, another might need more clarity, while another simply needs a little more color and contrast.
You can make these adjustments manually every time, but Lightroom presets can give you a useful starting point and make it easier to get the result you're looking for.
How the ajust Presets Underwater Toolkit works
The ajust Presets Underwater Toolkit takes a different approach from traditional one-click presets. Instead of trying to turn every photograph into a finished look with one preset, the Toolkit contains individual corrections designed to address specific underwater editing problems.
For example, you might start with a preset that corrects the color, then add another to improve clarity and another to bring back contrast. The individual presets are designed to be combined and stacked, so you can build the correction your particular photograph needs.
You don't have to use all of them, either. If your photo already has good contrast but has a strong green cast, you might only need the color correction. If it also looks hazy and lacks definition, you can add the relevant adjustments on top.
The important thing about underwater presets
Underwater photographs can vary enormously depending on depth, water conditions, available light, camera settings, and the subject you're photographing. That's why a preset that works perfectly on one image may not be right for another.
The goal isn't to apply a preset and leave every slider exactly as it is. Use the Toolkit as a set of starting points, combine the corrections your image needs, and adjust their intensities until the photograph looks natural.
Whether you're editing one favorite dive photo or an entire collection, our Underwater Toolkit gives you a faster and easier way to get to the result without giving up control over the final image.
Check out the Underwater Toolkit
How to Fix Common Underwater Photo Problems
Sometimes you don't need a complete editing workflow. You just need to know what's wrong with the photo and where to start. Here are a few common scenarios:
"My underwater photo is too green"
- Start with White Balance. Increase Temperature and then move Tint toward magenta if necessary.
- Then use the Color Mixer to reduce unwanted green/cyan tones.
Note: Watch the subject rather than trying to make the water neutral.
"My underwater photo is too blue"
- First check White Balance. Increase Temperature gradually while watching the subject.
- Then, if necessary, use the Color Mixer to further reduce cyan/blue tones.
Note: If the subject starts looking yellow or orange, you've gone too far with the Temperature slider. Remember that some blue in the water is completely normal.
"The colors look washed out"
- Check your White Balance first.
- Then increase Vibrance gradually.
- If the image still looks flat, work on Contrast and Dehaze rather than simply increasing Saturation.
Note: If everything is becoming extremely colorful but the image still looks flat, saturation isn't the problem.
"My underwater photo has no clarity"
- Try a small increase in Clarity and then Dehaze.
- Watch fine details and edges. If they start looking harsh or crunchy, reduce the adjustment.
"My subject looks blue"
- Start with White Balance, increasing the temperature slightly.
- If the subject or the rest of the photo still has an unnatural color, use a mask to target the subject and make a more localized correction.
Note: Don't simply warm the entire image until the water becomes orange.
"The water looks good, but the subject still looks dull"
- Use a mask to target the subject.
- Make small adjustments to Exposure, Contrast, Texture, Clarity or Saturation.
- Compare the masked and unmasked versions frequently.
Note: If you can immediately tell where the mask ends, the adjustment is probably too strong.
Final Thoughts
Editing underwater photos is largely about restoring what the water took away.
Start with white balance. Restore the missing color. Bring back contrast and clarity. Then make smaller, targeted adjustments to the subject and individual colors.
And don't judge success by how dramatic the edit looks.
The best underwater edits usually don't look heavily edited. They simply make the photograph look more like the scene you remember seeing underwater.
Want to speed up the process?
Frequently Asked Questions About Editing Underwater Photos
Can you edit underwater photos in Lightroom Mobile?
Yes. The editing principles in this guide also apply to Lightroom Mobile. The interface and location of some controls may be different, but the fundamental adjustments work in essentially the same way. You can follow the same process on your phone or tablet and use the visual cues described throughout this guide to judge when an adjustment has gone far enough.
Do you need a red filter to edit underwater photos?
No. A red filter isn't required to edit underwater photos in Lightroom. A filter can help preserve some warmer colors while you're taking the photograph, particularly as you go deeper, but you can still correct many color problems afterward in Lightroom. The better your original exposure and color information, the more flexibility you'll have during editing.
Can Lightroom completely restore colors lost underwater?
Not always. Lightroom can make a dramatic difference to an underwater photograph, but it can't recreate color information that was never captured in the first place. As you go deeper, warm colors are absorbed by the water, and severe color loss or heavy color casts can limit what you can recover. This is why it's better to think of editing as restoring and balancing the colors that are still present, rather than trying to recreate colors from scratch.
Should you shoot RAW for underwater photography?
If your camera supports it, RAW is generally recommended for underwater photography. RAW files retain much more information than JPEGs, giving you considerably more flexibility when adjusting white balance, exposure, highlights, shadows, and color. This is especially useful underwater, where color casts and uneven lighting can make the original image quite challenging to correct.
Are Lightroom presets good for underwater photography?
Yes, but they work best as a starting point rather than a finished look. Underwater photos can vary significantly depending on depth, lighting, water conditions, and the subject, so the same preset won't necessarily work equally well on every image.
The ajust Presets Underwater Toolkit takes this a step further by providing individual corrections that can be combined and adjusted according to what each photograph needs. That means you can use only the corrections that are actually useful for your image rather than applying a single preset designed to change everything at once.
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