Here is the original photo they gave (adorable girl):

Here is my fixed version of the photo:

The program I use to edit photos is Photoshop Elements 6. The following are the steps I took to edit this photo:
- adjusted levels a tad to brighten up
- I adjusted color for skin tone
- opened up color curves and increased midtones (to lighten the photo)
- I cloned out the snow flake on her hat. It was a bit of a distraction to my eye.
- used dodge/burn to bring out the eyes
- I also used coffeeshop actions, perfect portraiture but I turned off color pop and vignette and adjusted others to my liking. *side note, coffeeshop actions are awesome if you have photoshop elements. Must go to her site and check out all that Rita offers.
-to top off the photo I used color pop from the Florabella action in the color & haze set. I adjusted the settings there as well to my liking.
- just sharpened a tad for the web and thats it.
Here is my black/white version:

I converted my edited version to black/white and then I like to add a tad brown to the hue and a tad navy blue. Pretty simple.
I was having a bit of fun, so here is a bit of an urban feel of the photo I did using cosmopolitan of Florabella actions, adjusted to my liking again:

Don't judge to harshly, first time here. Love the practice. I had fun! :)