Recents shots from Bay of Pigs, Cuba

Hector1959 wrote:

And here some of the WA shots (from gallery "Bay of Pigs")

Edits in LR There are 2 similar photos treated differently. this has: Custom WB ,+0.27 exposure, +16 contrast, +61 shadows, +24 clarity ,+27 dehaze ,+19 saturation

Edits in LR AWB as shot +0.04 Exp +19 contrast -35 shadows +5 clarity +26 dehaze +10 saturation some adjustments in HSL

Edited from JPG Not cropped +19 contrast -100 highlights + 12 clarity + 4 dehaze +66 saturation

All of the above have white balance issues.  I'm not sure how clear it was, or how much water you were shooting through, but I think you should be able to get better results, like the below.

What I've found in shots like the above is sometimes there just isn't enough contrast to be had due to water conditions.   You can try to inject some, but it will likely block up the shadows and still not look right.  On the first two, try this for me:  Starting from scratch, brighten it up some, and try white balance off some grey metal areas in the foreground.  Once you get it in the ballpark, try dragging the black slider down until the left edge of the histogram almost touches the end.  You should quickly get a feel for what is too much.  These aren't the best shots to demonstrate the technique, but you may see a lot of the haziness in the water disappear.   You have to really work the shadows though to not overdue it where you want detail.

Edits in LR Not cropped, Custom WB, +0.27 Exposure, +100 shadows, +5 dehaze, +12 Saturation Some fine tuning in HSL

White balance seems OK on the above shot, but it could be brighter.  And you have that big hole in the detail in the lower right - might consider cropping this image about the halfway point down, to eliminate most of the dead area.

Edits in LR from JPG original (not RAW) Custom WB +0.35 exp +7 clarity +26 dehaze +32 saturation

The above is close, but look how harsh the azure vase is in the background.  To me, that's generally a case where you want to lower the highlights, and possibly the overall exposure.  (Then increase exposure locally, or in shadows only, etc.)

Edits in LR edits from JPG (raw was lost) +7 contrast -21 highlights +2 dehaze +15 saturation

Similar to the last one.   There are some glary highlights.   Imagine this scene as above-water and what it would look like if you put on a circular polarizer.   The colors would darken, deepen and the highlights would look like glare was gone or reduced.   In post the way I approach this is to start by lowering the highlights to the point that glare areas are gone.  Then I work to overall lighten the remaining portions, if necessary.

Edits in LR (from practically unrecoverable photo): Custom WB -1.12 Exp -35 contrast -100 highlights +13 clarity +63 dehaze very small adjust.. in HSL

Now here is a situation I've seen plenty of times.  And you can do better, assuming you have the dynamic range I think you do.  First, white balance using an eyedropper on the barracuda.   Next, play with overall exposure and highlight reduction to brighter things up without going too far with the silver scales.    Then crop, and add a BUNCH of contrast in, and you may come up with something like this:

Barracuda always seem to hover just out of decent photo range.   Eagle rays are worse.