Tigers to consider...

I like the second one better. It has more contrast, and the tiger stands out more.

 

Rich,
The 2nd is better as stated by Dragos.
You simply must put this image on the new kitty thread.
It will be great there....
Don

 

as an example of what i would have done pp ......

desaturate backround... burn \ dodge ,the blown areas \dark spots ....
crop image to make subject more prominant, darken edge same reason, clone foliage to kill blown spotty areas adjust exposure in tiger highlights


i love the attitude in the tiger you have captured , really cool .


edit, yes yes you should have put it in the kitty thread , you must ,lol

many images from the days of film were burned and dodged to better balance light and dark and improve the image, i did this in elements just a quick

 

rich i used adobe elements , in windows . it is similar to photoshop but it is missing many of the more advanced \pro features, its very easy to learn and use and does most of what i need

ive tried photoshop , but ive found it is overly complicated and has a steeper learning curve, most pros \ advanced amateurs swear by it or equiv programs for apple systems

 

softwares for post processing

Rich there's are several threads here in this forum that reference different softwares (everyone has their favorites) but we also have the Software forum which you might want to take a read through. When you find a thread that interests you, please add your questions or comments - or start a new one there.

P.S. I just bumped up a very helpful general overview thread about different softwares that are available and hope it will be a good starting place.