Playing with Photoshop

Since we have that spiffy SLR, I've decided to finally learn how to use Photoshop to enhance the photos other than changing the size and using the artistic filters. I found a website called PSDTUTS+. They have a lot of great artsy tutorials. I'm looking for something a bit more practical though. The photos below were altered by sharpening the edges and using curves to play with the color. My hubster says that there's not too much of a difference other than the contrast is a bit more noticeable. We'll see how learning more about Photoshop goes.

Before

After

Before

After