What makes HDR?

An example demonstrating the usage of 3 or more exposures to create HDRI, then exporting them to an 8-bit jpeg with tonemapping applied to give it that "look" that jumps out and grabs you.

The purpose of this deviation is to show you a part of the process in creating HDR that you don't see in some tutorials, however this does not contain a full tutorial on how this is done. If you want a tutorial, please go here: [link]

What this is meant to do is show you a larger imprint of the photos that you would merge together, and what kind of end result you can expect by tweaking with settings. In terms of more information, you can theoretically create HDR with a single RAW image however it is best to actually shoot 3 different exposures. Software can't always recreate the lighting that the shutter is capable of allowing in to create the exposure and can result in noise that will actually be amplified MORE when you create HDR.

So there you have it, a basic rundown to touch basis even more on what makes a good HDR.