What a difference a filter can make! / by Amber Jackson


Happy St. Patrick's Day! Despite our excitement for the holiday, we are filtering out the green with GoPro filters to reveal the clarity and color of our underwater world.

The kelp forest near Scripps Institution of Oceanography is alive with colorful marine life, from bright orange Garibaldi to purple sea stars! However, we found that our underwater photography seemed washed out with blues and greens until we discovered the red and magenta PolarPro GoPro filter. At depth, this filter employs a red and magenta lens to bring color to our image by replacing the colors of the light spectrum that get absorbed by water. 

This concept of light absorption in the ocean explains why the ocean is blue! Our eyes perceive the ocean to be blue because water absorbs color in the red part of the light spectrum. Like a filter, this leaves behind light in the blue part of the spectrum for our eyes to see!

 We would like to thank C and H Photography in La Jolla for introducing us to the red PolarPro GoPro filter.