Green water in a pool? I shot an indoor event at a pool and looking at the prints, the water is green. There were overhead lights. The tile on the edge of the pool was a perfect blue.

canon Lee

I shot an indoor event at a pool and looking at the prints, the water is green. There were overhead lights. The tile on the edge of the pool was a perfect blue. Is there a filter of some type that I could have used to filter out he green perhaps coming from the house lighting?

hj Loc: Florida

Clorine filter? .... Sorry, I couldn't resist. Don't really know about a photographic filter.

canon Lee wrote:

I shot an indoor event at a pool and looking at the prints, the water is green. There were overhead lights. The tile on the edge of the pool was a perfect blue. Is there a filter of some type that I could have used to filter out he green perhaps coming from the house lighting?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

canon Lee wrote:

I shot an indoor event at a pool and looking at the prints, the water is green. There were overhead lights. The tile on the edge of the pool was a perfect blue. Is there a filter of some type that I could have used to filter out he green perhaps coming from the house lighting?

So the water itself was actually green, or the images show green water? Can you manipulate white balance? How about going in with LR or PS and changing the tint in just that area?

steveg48

Photoshop

green

blue

OldEarl Loc: Northeast Kansas

The color of water is a reflection of the light hitting it. Like the sky, it is not a perfect blue. I have spent time painting and looking at paintings and I realized that only a few times have I seen the ocean as a true blue or a sky that was cerullian (sky blue). Florescent lighting sometimes has a green tinge and I remember discussing CC filters but never used them. I suppose you could alter the color in post processing.

canon Lee

jerryc41 wrote:

So the water itself was actually green, or the images show green water? Can you manipulate white balance? How about going in with LR or PS and changing the tint in just that area?

The water was green and the subjects flesh tone was spot on. The tiles around the pool were blue and did not turn green.

Larwbuck Loc: Seattle, Washington

With all this discussion you haven't answered the one White Balance question, how did you have the WB set? Likely should have been set to Florecent to accomadate the indoor light. You could correct in PS just the water tones with some layers and masking if you want to take some time to fix it. Just some quick thoughts.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

canon Lee wrote:

I shot an indoor event at a pool and looking at the prints, the water is green. There were overhead lights. The tile on the edge of the pool was a perfect blue. Is there a filter of some type that I could have used to filter out he green perhaps coming from the house lighting?

Was it St Patric's day? That would explain the green water (just kidding)

Weatherbird Loc: East Lothian, Scotland

Are you sure the water was not green? Badly maintained pools can become green and the water have required some attention. Just a thought.

Weatherbird Loc: East Lothian, Scotland

Are you sure the water was not green? Badly maintained pools can become green and the water have required some attention. Just a thought.

canon Lee

From all I have read so far, I think I should have done a custom WB before the shoot. I usually do but this time I completely forgot. It was not a color cast since the flesh tone was right on. Not sure what to do. For the individual shots I cropped close so that little of the water shows.

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

Well great learning experience. First school shoot I did for GD I had the problem. I am assuming you are shooting in Jpeg.

I found it's had to make chicken salad out oft Chicken sh*t. Just me. I am now more cognoscente.

canon Lee wrote:

From all I have read so far, I think I should have done a custom WB before the shoot. I usually do but this time I completely forgot. It was not a color cast since the flesh tone was right on. Not sure what to do. For the individual shots I cropped close so that little of the water shows.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Weatherbird wrote:

Are you sure the water was not green? Badly maintained pools can become green and the water have required some attention. Just a thought.

That was my first thought. Blue plus yellow makes green.
Would it be possible to arrange a reshoot at a pool where no one's been peeing in the pool? :twisted:

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

I have shot THOUSANDS of swim images and it is NOT a white balance problem and not a maintenance problem. All amateur pools will show green-ish water. I have done outdoor pools and indoor pools an it is all the same. Indoor tends to be worse.

Here is the fix:
Open the image in Photoshop and then open the Hue and Saturation dialog.
Choose Cyan
Move the Hue slider to the right until the green goes more to blue. Do not over do it. You can make small adjust means with the Saturation slider.

The cool thing is that this will ignore skin tones so no need to select the water first.

Used that fix for almost 10 years.

If that does not work well - and inside it can be "iffy"- another trick is to duplicate the layer, change blend mode to Color, Change foreground color to the dark, click on the dark square and choose a moderate blue in the color picker.

Click on the brush, set opacity to something in the 10-15% range and paint the blue onto the layer. You may have to try a few shads of blue to get what you want.

You can vary the opacity of the layer to make fine adjustments .

YOU MUST have the layer mode set to Color or this will not work.

canon Lee

CaptainC wrote:

I have shot THOUSANDS of swim images and it is NOT... (show quote)

Thank you for your reply. The shoot was for a swim club. I just wouldn't have the time to adjust all of the 40 members. But I am glad you have had the same experience as well. I will look at the color of the water and let the club know if the water will be green or not. I thought it might be caused by the lighting. Thanks again.