I will forever be a picture taker and never a photographer. I'd be happy with the "before" picture - it's clear and the subject is interesting. Maybe I'd futz with "auto level" or some such "make me a genius" buttons in post-processing, but probably not much. Every aspect of the picture is better in the after image - and it makes the whole picture more effective.
I often comment around the blogosphere under the self-important moniker "darkpixel".
Now I have my own blog to call home, and I get to kibitz on my brother's blog.
Is this a great country, or what?