Backscatter: How to use photoshop to eliminate our common enemy

Particles are in the ocean... let's face it. Correct strobe positioning can help minimize backscatter in your photos. However, even with ambient light, some particles (or unwanted objects) may appear in your photos. Here's how to get rid of them in Adobe Photoshop. 

If you're using strobes...

Here is a photo of correct strobe placement for wide angle photography: (​​*this is not my image)

The strobes should be pointed slightly outward, and extremely far away from the camera. They should also be positioned behind the dome port or whatever lens you are using. The goal with strobes in wide angle is to use edge lighting. You don't want the light to beam the subject, you only need to use the outer edge to achieve proper lighting. This also ensures you don't have backscatter. 

Photo's I've taken with this strobe placement

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But I still have backscatter... what do I do?

Strobes can't save you always, and sometimes you abandon your strobes in favor of ambient light. Particles can still show up in ambient light photos (like the shark cover), so here's how to get rid of them. 

You're going to need Adobe Photoshop for this one. You can use Lightroom, but I don't think the spot healing tool is nearly as good as photoshop. 

Step 1: Open photoshop 

Open photoshop!

Step 2: Open your photo

Once you have photoshop open, you'll want to click the "open" button and open your photo from where it is saved on your device. 

Step 3: select the healing tool

Select the spot healing tool. It usually looks like a bandaid. If you right click the spot healing tool, you'll see different options. I really like the remove tool more for particles than the spot healing tool. I haven't experimented much with the other tools! 

Step 4: remove particles, try not to stress over the small details

Removing particles can make you go crazy in the head! There can be so many particles, everywhere, and it's overwhelming. The results are unmatched for your photos though. This process can truly transform your images. 

My Process

 I like to start with large particles, then move to smaller ones. I do the large particles with the image zoomed out, then zoom in for the smaller particles. Finally, I zoom out to do a final check and remove any last particles bugging me.