A different attempt with HDR
After a most excellent dinner out at 242 with a glass of Merlot to sooth my distressed throat I came home all mellow and set out to work on some other pictures from yesterday. I am not really thrilled with much of what I took so I went back to some images I took at Roger Williams Park Zoo on Sunday. I found this one image of a Radiated Tortoise I liked, probably because I remember nearly getting down on my stomach to take the picture between the slats to get a better angle and having people almost have to step over me. I didn't take a bracketed exposure because 1) I was in an awkward position and I don't think I could have held the camera steady enough for 3 close to identical shots and 2) I didn't think about it. So I processed the image 3 times in Adobe Raw, one for the shadows, one for the highlights and one normal getting 3 files. I probably could have done it easier using the exposure adjustment also saving each as a different file but why should I do that? Then I imported them into Photomatix and using the details enhancer. It makes the boards in the back look a bit illustrated but the overall effect was very much what I wanted bringing out the shadows under the shell so you could see the details:
And this is what it is without combining the images as an HDR:
And this is what it is without combining the images as an HDR: