Making this: into this:


Lighting, and Making an Image Darker, Give More Depth.
First off I started with this image, and cropped/resized it to this:

Next, duplicate the layer by right clicking the image and clicking Layers > Duplicate Layer.

Then, right click the top layer and go to Layers > Colors > Desaturate. It should now look like this:

Now, change the Brightness/Contrast by right clicking and going to Layers > Colors > Brightness-Contrast. For different images you will have to use different settings. I suggest playing around with it a bit, there's always Ctrl+Z. For this image I set Brightness to 30 and Contrast to 80 and get this:

Then, go to your Layers Pallette. This will either be in your main GIMP window, or you can bring it up by pressing Ctrl+L or by right clicking and selecting Dialogs > Layers.

On your Layers Pallette select the top layer and set the Mode to Multiply. You now have this:

If the image is too dark you will have to undo the last 2 actions and readjust your Brightness and Contrast.

Finally, add some text. I added "taking you home" on 2 lines and moved as needed. and there we have it: