HDR programs

ransley wrote:
At Dp review where people submit photos for contest, I see many people
have used Photomatrix HDR, is this one of the best- easiest to use,
programs for HDR, what are the down sides to doing HDR, ive never
tried HDR but it seems to be the way to go.

From what I've read of some of the other replies, few people actually
have a handle on the process of widening the dynamic range of a photograph.

With one technique of mine, you only need a tripod if you intend to make
long exposures - same as with every day shots. You do need a RAW or DNG
file to start with.

The process is called WDR or wide dynamic range imaging. You Make 3
(tiff for preference)copies of the RAW file and create a tone mapped
image from it.

Make one at 2 stops under exposed, one at 2 stops over and one in the
middle. Blend them with any program that handles blending and use them
to build your tone map - the start of a good WDR picture.

Here's a couple of quick and dirty examples of HDR and WDR.
http://www.weddingsnportraits.com.au.../HDR-V-WDR.htm