Christoph,
Looking at your version, I'm embarrassed by my clumsiness in my first attempts to increase local contrast! I've played around with it a little more and come up with this, which I now like.
I've used the method you suggested, with just a little more transparency in the blurred layer (opacity 60% rather than your 75%). I've also masked out the blurred layer in a few places, particularly the circular swirl in the upper centre and the darker shadow to its lower right.
Further comments appreciated, as ever.
Jeremy
Seeing our edits side by side its obvious we are in the realm of subjectivisms and vision.
I like both edits.
The method I suggested in my post basically is a variation of some sort of unsharp masking.
Used in a separate layer and together with the blending options its a great tool for working on local contrast and
for finding the spatial frequencies which need enhancement by playing with the blur radius after the layer mode has been set.
If you do it as a smart filter you can even change it later.
Another way is to try screen and multiply modes if you want to work mainly on the shadows or lights respectively.
Or combine them all together with different radii, modes and such.
The trick is basically to see the frequencies which need a boost and to keep an eye on your histogram.
Playing around and learning to see what does what is the key, of course.
So I'm glad I could help a bit.
Your image definitely is worth all the effort.
Cheers
~Chris
