High Dynamic Range Photography

I've been experimenting with a new photographic technique called High Dynamic Range Photography. To do this, you must take three photos of the exact same scene at different brightness levels. One picture will be at the normal exposure, one will be very dark, and one will be blown out. Absolutely nothing can move for a good HDR shot, so it is advisable to bring a tripod or find a stable mounting surface. When you get back to your computer, you take all three images and process them with special software to create a picture with more detail than a normal photo. I use HDR Efex Pro, although there are many other options on the market. HDR is something that I have experimented with in the past, but never had the patience to master. Now I am using it for scenes that are difficult to photograph without having large sections in the shadows. This technique has the potential to make realistic images, but it also can create these garishly cartoony pictures. It took me quite a bit of reading to find the right settings for my program that combines the images. What I discovered was that first, you have to have a high amount of tonal compression, which makes the light and dark areas about the same in terms of brightness. The second step is to increase the contrast of the image to the point that it looks realistic again. The result should look like the original medium exposure picture that you took, but it should have much more detail in the shadows and highlights. 

Here is the HDR photo produced from the three pictures above: