Awww come on Soupy, change the record! It seems that every time we have a thread which dares mention the theme of post-processing someone feels they have to remind us that we should get it right in camera. Fact is, we ALL try and get it as right as possible in camera but with careful post-pro work you can often get the picture much closer to 'the moment' than the necessary limitations of the camera alone allow.
But not going to go into all that yet again here, as you said it is off topic and I don't want Charlotte's thread to get hijacked.
The comments made here showing what has been done in post-pro are very helpful and you are obviously going the right way Charlotte. I would like to add my voice to Skip's on advising strongly against using the Brightness and Contrast tools. They really are not the best way to apply those changes. If you don't mind me taking a second, i'll explain why....
If you use the Brightness tool, it lifts each shade (of luminance) by an equal amount so the entire picture is lightened. This means the darkest areas get lightened even if there is no detail in there so they just become a dark grey. At the other end of the luminance scale, the lightest areas get lightned to white because there is nowhere else to go so you end up with more burnt out areas.
The much better alternative is to use the most wonderful tool PS possesses: Curves!
This allows you to apply logarithmic adjustments (don't worry, no maths involved, I promise!) rather than linear adjustments so the mid areas where most adjustment is generally required get lifted more with the darker and lighter areas being adjusted progressively less.
You should use the same tool for adding contrast. Just use a shallow S-curve darkening the lower end and lightening the upper end. More contrast needed = bigger S curve. BUT it is usually better to apply the curve in small increments. I am not sure whether Photoplus has adjustment layers but that is what I always use oin Photoshop as it allows you to go back and adjust again without affecting whatever else has been done since.
Good work, keep it up and I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labours
Cheers,
Rob