New Editing Software = No Sleep Tonight

I met with a local photographer and good friend, Lee Chastain, today to set up my computer for photo editing. After about forty minutes of staring at my computer, rather akwardly making small talk, Adobe Photoshop CS4 was finally installed on my computer. I felt bad for making him wait with me while the software installed, but I wanted Lee to check and make sure the program was not installing any extra bits I did not need on to my computer. The next hour that we spent sitting in Starbucks was a whirlwind of questions and explanations. Think of a week of college lectures condensed into one hour. I felt a little overloaded by the time Lee said he had to leave, so I snagged a coffee on the way out the door. After dinner, I sat at my computer for two hours straight playing with filters, effects, hue, saturation, etc. Some things I did, I liked. Others, were not so great. Unfortunately, my eyes could not keep up with my curiosity, so I had to quit for the night. Before I go to bed though, I am going to post before and after pictures of the two photos I was satisfied with so you can tell the difference between the two and decide which you prefer. Please keep in mind these photos were edited by a user with about an hours worth of experience!

Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Feel free to leave comments. Let me know what you like, or do not like about the photos. Critcism is the best way to build skill.