Snow on my summer setting

Here's my summer setting on the back deck, which received a bit of snow last night. I shot this from my bedroom window overlooking the deck, first using my D300 with the Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 AF lens, but I couldn't get the desired composition -- too far a perspective.

So I put on my Nikkor 85mm AF-D prime lens -- just right. I'm trying to get a better feel in choosing a focal length when composing a shot in my mind.

Following immediately is the histogram for the above shot as indicated by Levels in Photoshop Elements 6. Note that I adjusted the dark and light sides.

This is the histogram for the same shot when viewing the Adobe DNG raw file in Camera Raw.

I used the black slider to adjust the dark side of the exposure. Seeing them side by side, I see that I like the first one better.