Thanks for your comments. As for HDR, I have used this method before, but like you say, you need a tripod. This shot, and the other one, were shot at f4.0 handheld at iso 800, so could not use it here...
Have you tried HDR imaging? It gives you much more flexibility with a high-dynamic-range scenes such as this one. It's a really fantastic method that enables you to capture both a deep shadow detail and a highlight detail. I discovered it a few days ago and as it is relatively unknown, am trying to spread the word :) Using a tripod you shoot a couple of different exposure photos (2EV apart) to cover the whole dynamic range of the scene. Then you combine these images with a PS CS, Photomatrix or some other HDR enabled software. Using an advanced tone mapping you then 'collapse' the 32bit/chanel HDR image to 8bit while preserving all of the original detail. The results can be fantastic! Take a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging http://www.hdrsoft.com/ http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/high-dynamic-ran ge.htm
If you are lucky enough to be using Linux, there are a few quite good and free programs for HDR imaging.
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{K:26013} 4/25/2006