You're right, I am pretty sensitive about the whole HDR thing. Had it not been called HDR I'd have probably said "hey, it looks good".

It's a process where you blend several exposures of the same shot.
It's great for interior pictures or wherever the lighting is uneven. For instance, you shoot a room with a window ... the window will be overexposed and/or the room underexposed.
With HDR, you will see properly through the window, and see the room as well. Very nice stuff when done properly, but 99% of the time people go over dramatic with the effect and ruin it.

 

That is SO right on the mark!!! Beautiful when re-creating what the eye can see, and even sometimes when it enhances what the eye sees, but way too often over done!

 

Thank you for the explanation.

 

I followed this tutorial step by step on a random picture I took of the US Bank tower in Downtown LA...

Now, the original picture wasn't good by any means, but here are the results.

Original/Fake HDR:

 

So I think we should start talking about the effect not HDR anymore
Anyway that really does look good to me, maybe cut the right a bit but other than that a very cool pic!

 

Is this Quebec City?

 

there is a program called photomatix pro 3...the best program for HDR...you simply get 3 copies of the same pic with different exposure (-2,0,+2) then the programe merges them...then u just fix some of the setup and u will get a great pic....