Funny how we all see images differently!
Here's my feeble effort:
I applied some local editing with the dodge tool just in the shadow area. I had that set to 12%, and selected the shadow.
After this I ran the Highlight/shadow tool over the whole image, hence the lighter background.
I then applied some sharpening just to the bird, and ran neat image over the background.
Obviously if you don't like it, ignore all I've just said!
Your comment on how you images look is correct. The site software compresses the image to such an extent it does affect the image. When you click on the image it shows it without this compression. If you made your images the exact size of the screen display, (880 x 600 pixels.) It would display far better.
I don't bother, I just hope users click on the image to see the shots how they are supposed to look!
