High dynamic range (HDR) imaging has greater contrast reproduction capability than standard imaging techniques. It can achieve natural and pleasing appearance in terms of image quality. A tone mapping model (TMOz) is developed based on the center-surround properties of the mammalian ganglion cells of the human visual system for feature enhancement. The contrast of the HDR image is mapped adaptively to an SDR display range using a global method followed by contrast enhancement in local regions. A psychophysical experiment was conducted to refine the model for adaptivity of the contrast mapping function. Finally, the performance of the TMOz was evaluated using CIELAB (2:1) formula together with high quality reference images. The results showed that TMOz outperformed the other tone mapping operators (TMOs).