b) next best (4.5 & over) Taking it easy

.

The composition is great, but I find the overall exposure to be too much. However, I'm not sure what your intention was, so I'm hesitant to offer an alternative. I would have gone this route (a simple curves adjustment).

My Photoshop (Elements 4) doesn't have curves and, searching Google, I found

http://www.arraich.com/ps8_CurvesCommentary1.htm

Never-the-less, I do think your version is better so maybe I should have taken more care with levels adjustments as per my latest attempt