Original file we will be editing

Original Image Lab Composition

Original Image Auto Levels

Original Image Saturation - 40

Original Image LAB - Edited A and B only

Original Image LAB - Edited all curves

Original Image RGB

Original Image HSV - Edited Saturation and Value

Original Image HSL - Edited Saturation and Lightness

Original Image CMY

Original Image RBG with Duplicate layer on overlay

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There are many different ways to enhance the colors of your photos using the Gimp. In this tutorial, I will show you the basic process for color enhancement, then I will show you differences in each method so you can decide which way is best for you. When I did the tutorial on editing photos for wedding enhancement , I got a great suggestion in the comments that instead of using saturation for color enhancement, I could use LAB decomposition.I played around with it a bit and it has some interesting results. Before I show you all the different methods for color enhancement, I will show you the basic process.You should not do color enhancement to all your pictures, try to select one with vibrant colors.They are in the process of building a bike trail near where I live in Spanish Fork Utah. I was pretty excited to see what it was like, so a couple months ago in the fall I hiked it. It was so beautiful and I remember all the vibrant colors. I took this picture and remember being disappointed when I got home because the colors seem so bland. This is what we will fix!I always like to make a copy of my base layer. This way I can always revert back to the original easily and have something for a point of comparison.Colors>Components>DecomposeSelect LAB and click OK (You really can select just about any decomposition you would like; below I will show you the differences with each)On the newly created black and white image, select the A layer and go to Colors>Curves.... Move the curves as seen above; one square over. You can do more than that for more vibrant colors. I find that a square and a half is pretty good. Anything more than that starts looking fake.Colors>Components>RecomposeThat is it! Pretty simple, but a great way to bring out the colors a bit.Now I will show you some side by side comparisons of different color enhancing techniques so you can decide what is best for you.1. Auto Levels - This is probably the most basic technique. This does not really do much for colors (unless you manually change color levels) but is perhaps the most common way of doing photo enhancement. As you can see, it does improve the image, but does not really enhance the colors much.2. Saturation - I increased the saturation to 40. This is also super quick and easy; the colors already seem more vibrant. In the Gimp you can see live changes as you move the saturation bar; this is nice so you don't overdo the saturation.3. LAB - This isightness andandcolor spaces. In this first example I only edited the curves for the color spaces and not for the lightness. It is definitely better than the original, but difficult to say if it is significantly better than saturation or not. LAB seems to keep the light levels better than just using saturation.4. LAB - In this example I edited the lightness curves in addition to A and B. I like how this adds a bit of contrast in light values... a nice glow effect that would work well in some photos.5. RGB -edreenlue. This also does a great job with light levels. The light contrast seems to bring out a bit more vibrancy in the colors.6. HSV -ueaturation andalue. I only edited the saturation and value. Levels and colors are not quite as vibrant. Gives it a vintage like effect.7. HSL -ueaturation andight. I only edited the saturation and lightness. Even darker and less vibrant colors.8. CMY -yanagenta andellow. Virtually no visible difference with RGB.Play around with it and see what works well for you!