As you might have noticed, I quite like this table. This shot of it is my first experiment with quasi-HDR in as much as it's an HDR shot made from a single image.
I took it into Lightroom, but you could do it in any of the other applications that will allow you to manipulate an image, created two virtual copies then underexposed one of them by two stops and over-exposed the other by the same two stops.
You can then take all three of them into something like Photomatix (which as far as I am concerned is the best tool for the job) and process them as though they were three separate images. On the odd occasion, you will need to tell Photomatix what the EV for one or all of the images is as you import them. I suspect that Photomatix asks the question when you have been less than accurate in making the EV adjustments but you can manually assign values to the images at the import stage and Photomatix does the rest for you.
When 'm doing HDR work, I always follow advice I got from Matt Klowskoski over at NAPP. Do the tone mapping in Photomatix and leave ALL of the other adjustments you want to make to the image to Photoshop (or whatever image editing suite you are using). Photomatix is way better at tone mapping than Photoshop and the reverse is true with every other type of edit you will want to do.
As you will know if you have read other posts here, I have been experimenting with hand-held HDR using my new Sony SAL135F18Z lens (because I can) so one of the real advantages of taking the HDR from a single shot approach is that you get no ghosting that results from minor movements of the camera or objects in the frame. This same advantage obviously applies to images taken on a tripod where there is movement in the frame, either because of moving subjects or wind.
Bruce Kingston | 
