Clair, try the FDR sofware, it's free and you don't get a watermark on it, it's worth trying out different software packages, cos you will get one you really like.

got the FDR nero but cant seems to get the hang of it

yeah your right! first ones better!!

Just to add though, are you sure you took the gamma down?? As doing that shouldnt saturate the colours, it should tone the whole thing down??

It's a lot slower responding than Photomatix, when you merge the 3 images it takes a while for them to appear, also it's the beta version, I bought the full version (the cost's quite reasonable) and there's more options on it.

right! i must have turned it the wrong way then ! lol

will have another try

i only just downloaded both of them lastnite so i will keep trying nero

I prefer the first one as well

Nice picture Claire

This is just a general question about HDR shots - a lot of the ones I see that incorporate trees have what I consider to be very fake looking sky since the light around/through the tree is much lighter than the surrounding area. Is this something that can be adjusted?

Halos occur quite often in HDR mostly when the light smoothing hasnt been adjust properly. Sometimes it just unavoidable, a bit like the noise that can be generated.

i know what you mean , iv done a lot of faffing to fix the image but cant seem to get it right as i think is coz the day was overcast ..i reckon HDR it would have been better on a sunny day