Zoo Kangaroos from 2002 (aka, You win some, you lose some)

As I go through my old Sony DSC-F707 photos, I found this kangaroo in the shade (Fort Wayne Zoo, 2002). (Original image below)

The original image seemed a little bit dark to me. (These kangaroos were, after all, sitting in the shade.) So, this time, I generated two sets of images that were both brighter than the original and sent all three files through Photomatix, hoping it would add visibility to the shaded kangaroos. (HDR image below)

I'm not sure how much I gained in the process. The kangaroos in the original image seemed to have something of a bluish tint, and, in this second image, they seem to be more of a natural grayish color for kangaroos. (This may not actually have so much to do with the HDR merger; it may simply be more of a matter that I played with Photomatix's color sliders at the end. I would guess that this is where I also lost the reddish tint of the dirt around the kangaroo.)

So, what's the moral of the story? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe, if I were to keep tweaking my results, I might come up with something that suited me more.