From time to time, I like to go through my photo library and look at some of my old pictures. This process can be very motivational when I can see clear progression in my photography. It can also lead to a lot of face-palm moments when I see something that makes me wonder what in the world was I thinking, and how could I have thought that was any good.
That was the situation I found myself in with this image of a waterfall I photographed at Collins Creek several years ago. I liked the sweep of the falls as they curved from one edge of the frame to the other. I liked the blur of the water as it flowed over the overhanging rocks.
But, when I originally shot this image, it was a late fall/early winter afternoon. The sun had dropped behind the surrounding trees. The waterfall was well lit, but it was being lit by skylight. This created an evenly lit scene without a lot of harsh contrast to deal with. What I didn’t realize at the time but learned later was that skylight can create bluish tones in the picture. And, it certainly did in this case, and it was particularly noticeable in the water. It was that bluish cast that I found particularly distracting, and I knew I had to correct it.
Opening the picture in Photoshop, I selected the Camera Raw filter. In the Hue/Saturation/Luminance tab in the Camera Raw filter, I went to the Saturation controls and, with the Blue slider, reduced the blue tones in the image until they were eliminated creating a much more pleasing image.