1. An image processing method for enhancing underwater imaging affected by image degradation effects, the method comprising: acquiring at least one image of an underwater scene using an imaging device; determining attenuation of parts of the scene as acquired by the imaging device and determining the contribution of veiling light to said acquired at least one image, the attenuation and contribution of veiling light derived from said at least one image; and reconstructing an image of the underwater scene using a physics-based mathematical model, compensating image characteristics influenced by the attenuation and the veiling light degradation effects, and compensating underwater degradation effects relating to the optical path between illumination sources and different parts of the scene.