Shoot and Edit: Holiday traditions (after)

So here's my edited version of my photo from Tuesday--let's be honest here, the original photo needed a lot of work.  Here's what I did in picnik:

1. Converted the photo to black and white using the Tri-X 400 setting under the curves tab;
2. Increased the exposure by 80%;
3. Brightened Sammy's eyes using the eye bright setting at 80% fade;
4. Cropped the image and called it a day.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the before and after: it's definitely an improvement in my opinion (black and white conversions tend to forgive a lot of photography sins).  What do you think?

And don't forget--if you'd like to learn how to make your photos go from good to wow, be sure to check out what's going on over at Jill and Ashley's blogs: