More post-processing, developing workflow

A few weeks back I did a photo set at night near downtown.  I picked out the shots I was happiest with as they came off the camera and posted them (both here and on Gallerama) without any editing at all.  I included this picture and remarked that it was my favourite picture of the set:

This was actually my second attempt at this shot

Immediately preceding this picture was one with the exact same composition that was underexposed as a result of setting a much smaller aperture.  The underexposed one also had a larger depth of field (more of the picture was in focus), but given how relatively pleased I was with how the larger aperture version I didn't pay it much attention at the time.

The first attempt, obviously the second attempt was better as shot

Since I've been playing around with exposure compensation a bit I decided to do a bit of editing on that underexposed shot and do a comparison between it and the shot I ended up using.  I added some exposure compensation and then used the "Fill Light" slider to brighten it more without having such a drastic effect on the relatively bright lamps.  I rotated the photo to correct a very slight tilt that had been bothering me, and I was very pleased with the results.

Edited version of the underexposed shot

Once I had a look at the edited one, I was surprised to see that I hadn't noticed car headlights lighting up the foreground trees in shot that I had posted.  There's definitely a case to be made for that coincidental lighting, but in comparison (and my opinion) the lighting looks harsh and uneven compared to edited photo.  From where I sit I think the edited version gives up nothing from the version I had originally posted and improves slightly in lighting and focus.

I've since updated my galleries to include this picture instead of the "as shot" one that I originally posted.  Going forward I'm going do some simple editing like this whenever I post a photo set, I've been pleased with the results and I hate going back and uploading improved versions after the fact.  It'll be a fairly drastic change for me, since I'm used to posting photos whenever I find a few minutes to quickly scan through them as shot, but I think the results are worth improving and lengthening my process.