Help with photo tuning

Hey guys,

I'm quite a new photographer and I've only recently got Photoshop (I'm using the CS2 version that my brother bought a while back). I always come across photos that have great tuning achieved through Photoshop and even though I've been playing around with it I don't really know where to start.

Photos like http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonoway/4581294259/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/kinga_s/4531789497/in/faves-timothyplwong/ I think are really beautiful. When I messaged the photographers, they told me they used photoshop to achieve such effects, but didn't offer that much advice...

I was wondering if somebody could point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Jennan

If you want to adjust tone in your photos, then this might help.

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/layered-hdr-tone-mapping.html

I hope this helps. Take care