Discovered this gem today... Duplicate the image on top of itself. Desaturate the top layer, and use curves and levels to make a really high contrast B&W image. Then set the B&W layer's blending mode to multiply. It gives that great "dirty" feel to it. Really great for setting off the texture of skin in portraits, but I'll bet it gives really great drama to other shots too. I tried it on a friends pic of a baby, seen above, and to my own candid of this old man in a project I took about a year ago.
Improvement? I think so. I think I did it a little too dark for the wide angle, but if you zoom in, the face looks great by itself.
It's free, it's fun, it's in your browser, go ahead and try it!
