RT controlling highlights, differences between various tools

I was drag/dropping screenshots which started uploading but it took a bit long and then I got a pop up saying permission denied. Tried converting them to jpg, selecting all three and dragging them all in. One got through but then I had permission denied again.

The files were all screenshots taken with scrot so had a long date/time filename.

Trying again:

Screenshot using local adjustments/dynamic range compression with lowered exposure

The blown sky after raising exposure and before attempting recovery.

The third image failed