To mpetrovic: hello marko,

[burzum]

thanks for your comment :)

now for the answers..

NEF is the RAW file format used by Nikon.
more info about RAW from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAW_image_format

Tone Mapping is part of the HDR treatment I apply to some of my pictures. to understand it better you need to do a little reading about HDR -which stands for High Dynamic Range:
http://www.hdrsoft.com/
http://handbook.outbackphoto.com/section_hdr_and_tonemapping/index.html
http://www.popphoto.com/howto/3038
http://www.idigitalphoto.com/blog/post/hdr-high-dynamic-range-explained.html

:)

[mpetrovic]

yeah it felt like HDR, I experimented a few times with it, but somehow with semi-good results (see in my photos that STOP sign, and few more)
thanks for the links, I have to learn much more about it =]
happy posting and... as Chuck Schuldiner was saying.. UNITE!
:)

marko (on german lowlevel thrash/speed right now)