Color correction for newbies

[closfx]

Color correcting photos may be likened to applying a showroom shine to a new car. In the publishing industry, even the best professional photographs receive a thorough “buff and wax” job before going to press. There are a several programs that are used to enhance digital photos, but the industry standard is Photoshop®. Click HERE for a step-by-step tutorial.

 

[Peano]

In your first example, you would get better results by masking out the sign and adjusting that separately to brighten it. In increasing the overall exposure, the image data in the sidewalk got blown out. (I can post my corrected example using a mask if you give permission.)

This is your image, before on the left, after your edits on the right. Note the clipped highlights in the concrete. Also, your original image has a slight blue/cyan cast that isn't corrected by adjusting exposure and saturation. For that, curves would do the job.

 

[KmH]

Of course, if fill flash had been used when the image was captured.........