From "Tourist Shot" to "Wall Hanger"

A friend of mine took the following photo and he gave me permission to mess around with it.

Step one: Autobalance
Step two: Adjust color balance to get rid of some blue and green, and added some red.
Step three: Adjusted levels to increase whites and mid-gray.
Step four: Dodged with a light opacity brush over midtone areas around neck, eye, beak, and belly to give better depth.
Step five: Removed floating debris with the patch tool.
Step six: Liquified the white ledge behind him to give it a smoother curve.
Step seven: Using a low opacity brush, burned the water above and below him to enhance the waves.
Step eight: Smart sharpen slightly.
Step nine: Cropped away distracting ground.

awesome.