I finally had a chance to go back over some of the shots from December. Luckily the spots on the previous shot were only on the lens and not the sensor. I have two cokin grads but had left them at home so I bracketed 3 shots and tone mapped in Photomatrix.
Photoshop has a Merge to HDR feature – from the file menu, select automate, then merge to HDR. I haven’t been able to replicate what Photomatrix does but I think you would need to try the shadowhighlight tool on the image->adjustments menu.
Hi Mark, two good shots. I agree with above regarding the foreground in one. The cross catches the eye, is it there for a reason? The second shot is excellent, good and sharp. Number 1 would still be my favourite.