fun with photoshop

Given that I've had six days off this week, I've had a lot of time to think about a lot of things.  While poking around on the internet I discovered a lot of awesome photographs that a lot of normal people took with a lot of normal (or slightly better than normal) digital cameras.  I wanted to know why my photos never look like theirs.  My trusty tiny Canon digital camera takes really good photos...but all the photos I looked at were better.  John's awesome new camera takes really really good photos...but all the photos I looked at were better.  After doing some more internet digging and digital experimentation...I discovered it wasn't me, or my camera, or John's camera...the secret is making a few (four at the most) simple adjustments in Photoshop.  Five extra minutes of my time makes my photos look amazing!  Here are a few samples:

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Orignal:

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Edit #2: