I recently made the drive to Blanchard Springs to do some photography. Having been there a few times in the past, I have some familiarity with the area. However, this time, I tried not to have any expectations of what I might find. My goal was to simply walk around, explore the area, and see what I could find.
My first stop was the short path that leads to the Blanchard Spring waterfall. Slowly walking along the path, I noticed this collection of autumn leaves that had fallen to the ground. I was struck by their various shades of green, yellow, orange, and red. I was also intrigued by the way frost had formed on the edges of some of the leaves.
Using my 24-70mm lens, I set up my tripod so the back of the camera was as parallel as possible to the leaves. This was to ensure maximum depth of field and, therefore, sharpness, throughout the entire frame. If any part of the image was not sharp, it would ruin the picture.
To further ensure complete depth of field, I used the smallest aperture on the lens, f/22. This required a very slow shutter speed, but this was not a concern since there was no wind blowing, and the leaves weren’t moving.
My preliminary processing of the image included increasing the overall brightness of the frame, enhancing the contrast, and boosting the vibrance and saturation. However, this did not result in the final image I had in mind. What I realized was the scene was being illuminated by the cooler blue light of the sky. To resolve this, I adjusted the color temperature slider to increase the color temperature of the light similar to using a warming filter. This emphasized the warmer yellows and oranges and created the image I wanted.