HOW do they DO that?

Okay, still feeling super crafty/creative. MUST be the holidays. :)

In anycase, been having LOTS of email traffic conversations with my dear friend Tig on HOW do they DO that? It must be a photoshop trick, no? Maybe a CS4 action or something? Pro photographers are taking these decadent "hangin' at the house" pictures and making them super stellar. Want an example? Okay, check this out, to see what I mean:

Karen Russell - an average B'day party but the shots are photobook quality. Karen Russell has the two below posted on her blog. Although ALL her photos are just phenomenal. HOW do I do this with my pictures?It seems there is just a bit of vinagetting in the corners of the photo, now?

Okay, so spent a few minutes tonight playing with gradients in photoshop elements 6 to see if I could do something similar. Here's what I came up with from some photos I took of the boys.
Before: as shot with some saturation/exposure adjustments


This is with some circle gradient added in photoshop elements 6.



Better or not? You decide...