Compare, one with extensive messing about with one without much really.

And I didn't even reduce noise in the first but did a little sharpening and pulled brightness down a tad:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2nnnd4.jpg

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/..._hfcopy-vi.jpg

So was it worth it?

Hi Steve,

The second image looks as if the color contrast on the dog has been lowered (or maybe saturation increased). I like the colour in the first better. There is a nicer catch light in the dog's right eye in the second, however the left eye catch light is dimmer. If you even up the catch lights so they are both bright it will look better.

Alex

The reduction of the harshness in the carpet is very noticeable with the second image, and the colour is better; but you appear to have lost a little bit of sharpness around the dog's face.

Cheers Alex; I didn't think of catch light and normally only think global adjustment. This is a good idea and the saturation is increased 1% as levels are spread out on a Gaussian blur on the second. :)

Cheers Geoff; Gaussian blur I think did that. I had a big problem sharpening with 800 iso, I can see problems in the first, but I could also get better lighting with a Gaussian blur hiding the problems. Anyway, there isn't much difference between the top one taking less than a minute and the bottom taking hours, except I think the bottom one stands out or is different.

If it was possible to get the dog in right place; well, how do you do that.