'color trees' before

this lovely fall scene becomes stunning with a few adjustments. first i added selective color, then spent a little time in curves.
'color trees' after
 
'trees' before

the above photo was my choice to convert to black and white. a little bit more difficult than it sounds. i first used the brightness/contrast 1 adjustment followed by black and white 1, black and white 2, black and white 3, exposure 1, a visit to levels, and finally black and white 4 created 
'trees' below. 
'trees' after
'clouds' before
 
 
the above picture is the 'before' of 'clouds 1' below. first i cropped the photo to move the sun over to the upper left corner, and to select certain cloud formations. i adjusted the curves layer to get the effect i wanted below. 
'clouds 1' after

i added this second 
'after' because i like the effect so much.
for 
'clouds 2' below, on top of the original 
'clouds 1' i started with an inner glow effect, inverted 2, vibrance 1, inverted 1, gradient map 2, gradient map 1, and curves 1. this all created a surreal effect, and interesting spacial relationships.
'
clouds 2' after
'branches' before
The above picture is the 'before' of 'branches' below. i added a curves adjustment, brightness/contrast adjustment, tweaked the levels, applied a gradient map, inverted, and finished up with brightness/contrast2. 
 
 
'branches' after