Head in the clouds

I have still been playing around with HDRi and tone mapping as a way to extended the dynamic range that can be captured very realistic photos, without the process verging on the surreal. I have also recently been using my updated Picturenaut 3 and using 5 photos in ±1 EV Steps. This time I was investigating what could be achieved with interesting cloud effects. Individual photos just didn’t capture the full “depth” of the whips of clouds in the intense afternoon deep blue sky. Rather that trying to force the tone mapping into over the top visual effects, i just wanted to retain the underlying colour of the sky and fluff up the whiteness of the cloud but reserving detail. I was pleased with the result, and like any good clouds I can see many interesting things hiding with the shapes, a superhero, a monster or is it a phoenix?