Toolkit: Photoshop Blending Modes practise

Taking my black and white collage pieces, I have been using the blending modes in Photoshop to experiment different ways of applying colour from Jordan's lesson. On this page, I created a new layer and changed the blending mode to overlay and with a soft airbrush, picked colours and gently laid them on. I like the colours on the first and second images, however I feel the full potential of colour isn't achieved here, so I moved on.

Next, I used gradient maps. I really like the vivid outcomes of these, but I think that there isn't a diverse use of colour, or correct colour schemes that I like.

I finally combined the two elements: a blending mode layer (set to overlay) as well as the previously used gradient maps. I really like the colour scheme of the third image, as they work really well together. I still feel I need to practice more to achieve a good colour scheme. Now, to create Octavia!