"Alfred Molon" wrote

| The foreground is indeed that bright. See for instance this non-HDR
| version of the image:
| http://myolympus.org/document.php?id=20169

That looks normal to me. It feels much more realistic.
Maybe Bill's sense of "too bright" comes from the
oversaturated dead leaves. They look normal in this
picture. In the oversaturated version they're an
unearthly hue of luminous cinnamon. Perhaps some
might try to see that as real color and thereby
interpret it as excessive lighting.