Taking away the blue

Ever have one of those photographs that looks like it was shot 50,000 leagues under the sea?  It's something I see a lot of in amateur photography, and luckily with the right tools, it's a pretty simple fix.  In the photo below, notice how it has a blue tint, and the colors, especially in the reds and the yellows look washed out.

In Photoshop, using the color balance tool, I first took down the cyan by adding red, then used yellow to push back some of the blues, and make the color palate appear a bit more vivid.  To strengthen the skin tones, I replaced some of the greens with magenta, but be warned, it's easy to over do it and give your picture a "magenta shift".  You can also use this technique to give your photos a nice stylized touch, so don't be afraid to play around with this tool.

If you want to kick it up a notch, play with the individual color saturation, and tone down the reds to give the skin tones a cool look.  I'll be posting more photo-enhancement tips later on, so stay tuned!