The best time for capturing a mirror reflection is First Light. In the early morning light just as the sun is coming up, everything is still. It is as if Mother Nature is holding her breath and allowing you to see mirror images of her handy work in the lakes and ponds. This is my favorite times to capture images when earth is still and most of the world is still sleeping.
Live Oak Reflections
In Camera Raw 6.6 I adjusted the White Balance to Auto and shifted the exposure slider to + 0.15. I also adjusted the Recovery slider to +11
Camera Raw 6.6
This is the image opened directly into Photoshop directly out of Camera Raw 6.6. This is a great image without any processing but a few adjustments in Color Efex Pro 3.0 will make this image pop.
Image opened directly out of Camera Raw
In Color Efex Pro 3.0 I used Film Effects and the film I selected was Kodak Portra 160VC. When shooting film this was always one of my favorites.
Film-Effects
To bring out the Shadows and bring down the Highlights I used Tonal Contrast in Color Efex Pro 3.0
Tonal Contrast
The last tool I used in Color Efex Pro 3.0 is Remove Color Cast. This tool will adjust the color and often gives it the warming effect I want in images.
Remove Color Cast
With just a few quick adjustments in Color Efex Pro 3.0 this image Live Oak reflection was turned into a finished image.
Live Oak Reflections
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