Need advice for next time (so upset!)

[Moe]

[deleted]

 

[tsaraleksi]

I think the easiest things to do would be either a dodge and burn or simply making two version of the image and merging them together.

 

[TStorm]

Try HDR from a single RAW photo, and use Photomatix (did you use Photoshop?)

 

[sabbath999]

Or just mess with it in your PP program.

Here is 72 seconds worth of work using CaptureNX:

Yes, what I did is very "over the top" and extremely saturated... but I used to live right off the Ginza in Tokyo... that is what the country is... over-saturated.

 

[LaFoto]

Not all is lost, Moe.
There are ways to still "rescue" the photo, and with an existing RAW file and the "little-helper"-software (like Photomatix), it could be rescued even better than with the help of PS alone, which is what I used, selectively brightening the bottom part ... and cloning out the car, which so caught my attention in sabbath's edit, since it shows so clearly there. Just for the fun of it, see?