I’d like to Thank evryone who helped in choosing the final Cover for our latest book.
I thought that it might be interesting to show some of the process used in going from the original photo to the final cover.
(you can click on the photo for a larger view)

 
1. We start with the original photo
2. Strip out the background
3. Adjust the colors, brightness and contrast
4. Create a dark background layer
5. Add some special effects
6. Lay in the cleaned up photo
7. Adjust and enlarge if needed
8. Add the text
9. Final cover
There is a little more to the process but this will give you the basic idea of how it works.