Irfanview does AMAZING things...just playing with the Enhance Colors part under Image does incredible stuff.  For example:

From this:


To this:



From this:


Tothis:[img]http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/carrier_f-18_6edited.jpg

From this:



To this:



Anyway, as a very beginner editor I can still make my pictures look beautiful using this program!  If you don't have it yet, make sure to pick it up.  After all, it's freeware!

- Kevin