Asher,
I am puzzled by what you post as the FM version as it is rather desaturated and lacks contrast. That image really looks beatup.
Is it some mistake or is that the best one can do?
Yes, it looks absolutely dreadful, but I posted it for the purpose of comparison.
It was the best I could get from the SR plugin. It may be my fault, or a limitation of PSE3 (alrthough it was advertised as being compatible). Fortunately it wasn't very expensive!
Tim,
I'll certainly be taking a look (if they run on Mac).
Photomatix and Light Room both have Mac versions. Shadow Illuminator doesn't at the moment, although according to their website one is planned.
Would it be possible for you to include a comparison with Photoshop CS's Shadows and Highlights tool?
I don't have PS CS, although AFAIK the Shadows/Highlights control in PSE3 performs the same function.
Also, Lightroom has the similar "fill light" slider, it might be interesting to see the conversion done with this tool too.
Putting aside my dislike of LR, I've updated my link with a conversion using Fill Light. I also used the HSL control to (partially) remove a purple cast in the sky.
To complete the comparison, I've also posted conversions using Bibble Lite (Perfectly Clear, Fill Light and Highlight Recovery) and RawTherapee (Shadows/Highlights and Optima_V1 luminance curve).
Regards,
Stuart