RAW Campfire - Is this any better?

[no.absolutes]

Today I decided would be the day I sucked it up and learned how to work with RAW files. I shoot with an Olympus E-420 and I edited my RAWs in Lightroom. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what I did. I know I upped the sharpness and warmth of the original, as well as the contrast...

Original

Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/20.0
Focal Length: 42 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Did not fire

Edited



Is this the type of product I should come up with? I am very pleased with it. I feel like the fire is burning me as I sit here after looking at the second one...

Original found here if you want to play.

[villafane928]

nice work. although i kind of favor the original because of the contrast. i am a big contrast guy though. either way awesome flames.

[TrishS]

I really like the after..about the only thing i would say (and I am no pro) would be to maybe lighten the photo and see how that looks..other then that..I love it, great job!

[Stryker]

I agree with villafane, I like the original better. Somehow the colours look so much more natural in that one. Maybe you can add just a little bit of warmth to it to make it better, but not as much as what you have done for the second one. Nice flames, BTW.

[Silverz]

I like the 'after' version. It looks a lot warmer - like a fire should be