Saw a tutorial by Joey L and started experimenting with some cross processing techniques. The image felt special because the US flag had a fluid quality that blended into the windows. Although there was something there, the image was not popping, so I decided to try Joey's technique on this image.
Three Photoshop layers changed this image radically.
I added a curves layer to increase contrast.
I then added another layer to play with the different color levels in the image, to achieve a look that looked interesting to me.
And here comes the cream, to finalize it, I added a Channel Mixer layer, and played with the sliders. Hint: It is important that the values of the sliders you change always add up to 100%.
And here is the cherry on the cake! Play with the opacity slider and follow your instinct. You will see the cross processed look take place in front of you.
What I love about this approach, is that images have a degree of color and luma information that you can tweak at different stages of the process. Give it a try an let me know what you think.
Here are the before and after images.
Before
After