Experimenting with Camera Raw

I recently installed CS5 on my computer and I've been experimenting with Camera Raw.  Note: These pictures are edited without any tutorial on Camera Raw, so they will be pretty bad editing.

Original, no editing

First attempt.  I think it looks too contrasted,
however it is a step up from the original.

Second attempt.  Lightened it up, but where I lightened up the
background, I also lightened up my face.  I would  prefer to keep
my face in the way it is in the first edit.

I realize I'm not the best model in the world, however I liked the caterpillar. (Lame excuse).  Let's see how I progress after watching the tutorial videos I found on Lynda :).