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Oh boy, oh boy. I love questions like these. Well I have a pretty basic camera (no, I do not own a Nikon D40, I have no idea why it says that) I do have a Panasonic Lumix Dmc-fz28, so editing is my only way of making photos look good. To start out I try to create some sense of depth since my camera has no capabilities of doing so. I use Photoshop Elements 8, so it what I'm saying might be a little different than what you would use in the real Photoshop.

1. I select normally the background or the furthest object first then I use the lasso tool and draw the area I want to blur. After I select the object I go to the select button and go to refine edge. After I mess around with the feathering and smoothness I go to the filter>blur>gaussian blur and adjust until it looks right. If I feel like certain areas need to be blurred out I just use the blur brush at a pretty low intensity.

2. I then apply color layers to my photos. I’ve saved a few that I always use. One is normally a red filter and the other is a really cold blue filter. I normally leave the red layer at a higher opacity than that of the blue. Blue is normally around like 10%. Occasionally I add other colored filters.

3. I use a lot of fake “light leaks” in my photos. Those I have saved as editable files in my computer. The process I used to make them is kind of lengthy, but I’m sure you could find tutorials online if you want to learn how to make them. I normally add these “red/orange/yellow blobs” around the edges of the photo or slightly hitting the sides or mountains and mess around with the hue and saturation of them so they look right. I also tend to add dark edges around my photos by going to filter and then correct camera distortion.

4. I like to add a grainy texture to the parts that are more blurred out. You can find files online that are purely pictures of fine or rough grain. I just put the grain texture over the photo and put the blending to soft light. Normally I have to erase a lot of the layer because it can be a bit too much. Another way to add grain is by creating a new layer and pressing ctrl + backspace. This should fill the layer with a gray. After that go to filter>noise>add noise. I usually use monochromatic. Go to blur and use gaussian blur to slightly make the noise a little less harsh and adjust the layer's opacity to what is best.

5. Normally when I’m ending the editing process I adjust the light levels which helps a TON because my camera is crap. I’ll also tend to add a brush, I forgot what it’s called, but it looks like scratched film. It’s quite fantastic.

So yup, that’s kind of my editing process in a nutshell. Feel free to ask more questions.