This is the image that results from using the previous two images plus the mask. A philosophical question - has this technique streched the bounds of permissable manipulation thus taking this image beyond the bounds of "a true photograph?" For example, would this image pass the Nature's Best magazine's photography contest rules? If it would not, then many other similar techniques - like shooting two images where one is exposed for shadows and one for highlights to extend dynamic range - would also be out of bounds. One test of a photograph has been "The image must be what was seen through the viewfinder - with some dodging, burning, shapening and color adjustment permissible, but nothing of significance added or deleted." This image passes that test. Does that make it "OK" as a contest entry? Where is that "blurry" line?
An aside - there are cameras coming soon (may already exist) which will do the two image dynamic range extension technique described above totally in camera. If doing it out of camera doesn't fit within competition ethics, this will cause an additional dilemna - to paraphrase Mae West, "It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it."