From the outset, this probably wasn't the best example picture. The light shining in from behind the subject affects all the examples. Having said that, of all of the examples, I believe that the second histogram adjustment is the picture I like the best. I then went back to the last lessons on brightness and found that the Curves adjustment made the best picture of all. I tried combining both lessons, but wasn't able to come up with any improvements over the Curves adjustment.