Gimp boost colors and contrast with blend modes

 Before

After

So here are the steps, after reading Digital SLR Photography for APril 2013. I somehow tried this on GIMP, of course you cannot compare the powers of the Adobe Lightroom, or rather I would say a easier way to completed those changes. Well, GIMP is FREE, and also capable of achieving the same results.

So here,
1. Open your photos
2. Click duplicate at the bottom of the tool palatte
3. top menu - colors -> hue-saturation, on the hue slide all the way down to 0 and play around with the Lightness
4. on the layers - choose Overlay (75% opacity) as the blending mode.
5. merge the photos and done

What i like about the above is that, it make the photos separate the skies and the building, this is more 3D and realistic.

Try it!