Since your inbox is full, I'll reply to your PM here to make sure you get it.
I really like your shot, and I saw a lot of potential in it. What I did was simple. You can download a .tif with layers to see what I did. It's
here.
Basically, the first thing I noticed was that your shot was very flat, and lacking in contrast. That's the #1 reason why your colors were not saturated. A polarizer would help this, but also it has to be done with processing.
You'll see a levels layer. I basically brought the shadow slider way in, and the highlights in a bit. On the mask, I made a light gradient from white at the top to a gray at the bottom. This basically reduces the opacity of the levels smoothly down the image. I masked off the people, because I wanted to retain shadow detail in them. Next, I boosted the colors using a Selective Color adjustment layer. Basically you get channels for ever color, and you can influence the colors that make up that color. I use this to add saturation. You can double click on it and see what I did.
The topmost layer is a 50% grey soft light layer, which I dodged and burned on. I used this to exagerrate the details on the couple, as well as the details in the mountains and clouds. There's also a black and white group in there that you can turn on and see if you like. That's basically the background layer inverted, set to "color" blend mode, and a channel mixer adjustment layer, monochrome, and 100% blue.
That's it, with the crop which is also important I think. The edge of the road comes in from the bottom right corner, and the white line from the bottom left, and both lead right to the couple.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/39/39544-f587cf14279888b81e3b51750534ae22.jpg?1734173699)
