SManazis

I may have gone a little overboard trying to "fake" the dark look.

mind if I take a crack at it just for fun?

Would you mind if I played with it a bit?

What I'll add to what damien has already done to achieve that look is add a heavier dose of dodge and burn. The only other 3 things I'd change are: 1. Cut out the subject and add a textured background. (Of just insert it and mask it in) 2. On that background I would add a pretty strong vignette 3. Darken the subject a little and add a little more "matte" effect. my 2 cents.

What I've done in the past is basically (For Fireflies): Pick Gradient tool Pick the one that goes from White to transparent Make it a Radial Gradient Edit the Gradient to the colors you want White to Yellow to Transparent, or add a red/orange at the end and then create small spots with it. Go to Blending option and play with the Size/Spread/Opacity For the magic sparkles You can pick a brush that looks like small splatters. Pick a while or yellow color and then adjust outer glow in Blending options. Hope that helps.

Without a RAW file, it's pretty limited, but I came up with this:

I think your pictures lack the proper lighting to create the "contrasty" look. The rest is just matte and color grading I think.

If you google "Fog Overlay" there's tons of free options you can use. Would you mind if I tried a couple and reposted here?

Im just browsing around....got curious about this. Educational purposes. I don't have an image with this issue.

Damien, the PSD is no longer available. Any input on the method here?

you're a gentleman and a scholar.

I said most, not all....

Oh boy...I went through that class twice...but I'm honestly drawing a blank. I remember really liking it, and being familiar with most of the methods/concepts...

I'm not 100% on how just changing the Blending mode on a Levels layer that hasn't been adjusted causes a change though.

Thanks. There was one that had a Levels layer on the whole picture (no mask), in Soft Light blending mode, but no adjustments made that was baffling me.