Shane, cheers, mate. I made a boo boo with a couple of my layers, and, I will fix them up tonight. That's what happens when you process images whilst watching the Tour de France late at night with little sleep. : )
David, thanks. Yeah, it's such an incredible place. Re: overcooking, I will fix that tonight. Incorrect mask and the wrong blend mode screwed the image right up. Easy fix tonight. Pray tell, why was it the first and last lamb pie? And, yep, I only post small images online, large ones can be purchased (stock or print) if anyone so wishes. Small images protect my intellectual property. The detail on screen is nothing like what's in the print. For example, in this
image, on screen you can't really tell, but, in print, you can see the individual hairs on my arms, and, that's just on an 18x12" print.
Also, re: the HDR link. With some of my images, where the exposure cannot be contained in the one image, this is essentially what I do -- I bracket my exposures, or create RAW blends from the one exposure. The only difference is, I don't let Photomatix dictate what should go where, I just do it myself with layers. It gives me so much more control.
Thanks, guys! I appreciate your honest and constructive feedback. It helps me to improve and grow as an imager.
H