The two pictures here represent a problem identified by viewers on the Nikon Cafe, and a potential fix. The viewers felt the pictures were slightly overexposed, flat, and perhaps too highly processed. As represented by the leftmost picture. The second picture shows my proposed fix: eliminate the 2/3 EV boost Elements was giving, compensate with an increase in brightness, boost both contrast and sharpening up much higher in the NEF file itself and then save as a .dng file.

When examined closely the resultant image has better exposure, more depth, and more natural detail, I feel.

Just click on the file to bring up the picture and use the "previous" and "next" links to move between them. The picture should be much larger than your screen, if not scroll to the left bottom of the pic and click on "original".