Apparatus and Methodology for Adaptive Illumination for True Color Underwater Images

Described are a method and an apparatus for color-corrected underwater imaging. A range to an underwater object to be imaged is determined and control values are selected according to the range. Control values are predetermined for a number of ranges according to an optimization of a color quality factor for each range based on the spectra of the optical sources used for illumination and the wavelength-dependent optical transmission of the water for the range. The optical power of each optical source is controlled according to a respective one of the selected control values. Advantageously, an acquired image requires no color correction as the adaptive illumination compensates for the wavelength-dependent losses in the light propagation path from the optical sources to the object and from the object to the imaging device.