GIMP Version: 2.8.14
Operating System: Windows
GIMP Experience: New User

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That's the best way i can put it.
Bottom line is I don't have much to work. The pics are pretty poor quality but it's all I have.

Below is an example of what the images are like.

My question is what can I do with them? How can I at least bring some kind of color to them to bring them some kind of life?
I try the color tools, but more time than not, they just come out looking worse than before.
(And while we are on the subject of the color tools.... What in the world purpose does the Colorize Tool serve? Everytime I use it just turns the image into some fluorescent monstrosity.)

Anyway, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I hope the one you posted is the poorest you have.....
first attempt

second attempt


it's not a very "impressive" look! hehehe....

That's what mine come out looking like.
Sometimes....I can get it to look OK with levels, but not always.

Phil,
I guess that if you like to have some "guru" in photo-enhancement take the challenge, you have to post an image (better: more than one) with a "meaningful" content, so that the one who makes his/her attempts can evaluate the outcome: a flower, an animal, a house (not a small corner..), a person, a cityscape, a landscape; something "identifiable", otherwise it's difficult to understand whether the modification is a real improvement or not...

You could try the Color Grading plugin by John Lakkas, available here:
http://registry.gimp.org/node/26187

This allows you to set the colour tone independently for highlights, midtones and shadows.
eg. if you set the midtone colour to yellow-ish, highlight to orange-ish and shadows to something blue-ish you can get a rather more "sunny" appearance to the overall pic.

You could also try Filters>Enhance>Unsharp Mask to sharpen it up a bit.

A good photo starts by getting it right in the camera. If the shot is out of focus, nothing you do in GIMP will save it. And of course, if the subject and composition are nothing special, then the photo will never be something to write home about. Do the best you can, but have realistic expectations.

If the colors are dull, try increasing contrast. Preferably mid-tone local contrast. There are many ways to do this. Start here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3573

You can install the Clarity plug-in, which is an easy way to punch things up. http://registry.gimp.org/node/32316

When you're in the mood to read something complicated but brilliantly useful, try this: http://blog.patdavid.net/2014/08/clarit ... tones.html

A subtle vignette can help a flat photo look a little more exciting, by drawing the viewer's eye in toward the center.

It takes a long time to learn the ins and outs of GIMP. Be patient, try lots of tutorials and keep coming back here for advice.

Thanks for all the help and I'll look at those tips.
I really need to know how to do it because unfortunately, that is how the majority of our pictures come to me and that isn't going to change.
My only hope is to make them look better.

What is this picture supposed to be? It just looks like a zoomed in portion of a larger picture.We can't really offer any other help unless you share some pictures that have a clear subject. Like Dinasset said, take some pictures of flowers, animals, people, buildings, landscapes, etc...

It's the inside of a Do It Yourself Greenhouse that I'm putting on our sites.
And I'm not asking for anyone to fix it. I want to know how I can fix it.
Am I in the right topic?

This is the right topic. People are posting sample edits in an attempt to understand what you're trying to accomplish. Are any of these edits close to what you want? Tell us what you like, and we'll tell you how to do it. If you want something better than any of the examples here, you may be hoping for the impossible, given the small size and poor quality of the original image (which we now understand you are stuck with).

The Colorize tool exists to give the entire photo a color tint; it is not right for your purpose. Please try the following instead:

1. Colors -> Brightness-Contrast (move the Contrast slider to the right, but not so far that you lose detail on the bolts and nuts)

2. Colors ->Hue-Saturation (move the Saturation slider to the right, but only so far as it still looks like a natural green)

3. Filters -> Unsharp Mask to sharpen the image (use the default values)

4. Now how does it look to you? Is this a step in the right direction?

just another try...
-reduce noise by color
-duplicate, overlay
-duplicate, luma invert, overlay

Here's my try. All I did was: Open with Gimp, then copy layer. Next I used the free select tool and selected the green parts, then selected the 'Colorize' tool and clicked my selection, adjusted the sliders and clicked ok.
Then set the top layer to overlay.

pretty good Charlie