Making Picture Nicer.

I usually duplicate the image and change the blending of the top one to hard light to make it nicer.
Is it good?

 

That usually adds a ---- load of contrast.

 

Uses curves. I can explain how they work, if you want.



Another option is to go to filter>sharpen>unsharp mask.

Set the threshold to zero, the radius to max, and the amount to something low. You'll see your contrast increasing a lot. Find where you like the amount at and just click ok.



Normally, you barely want to increase contrast. It might look good to you, but most will disagree.

 

Yeah I'd use curves or brightness/contrast like suggested above(or atleast lower the opacity of the hard light layer). The contrast can get really overbearing if you do it like you said.

 

If you start with a black > white gradient map, it doesn't add as much contrast, if you know what your doing.

I use photo filters, gradient maps and blending options.