HDR, Part Two

In keeping with the last post, I wanted to mention a feature in PS that I recently discovered and have been trying to use. One of the automated functions available, that was introduced in CS3 I believe, is an HDR feature that merges at least two images into a new, high dynamic range image. I have had limited success with this, as they images don't often always merge perfectly. My colors are not always correct and shadows are often much too light given the overall exposure of the image.

As mentioned in my previous post, I do have misgivings about the process in some sense. I guess that my worry is that there is much potential for abuse with a feature of this kind. Just like with the saturation tool, it is easy to take things too far and create an image that doesn’t reflect reality. The hope, I guess, is that viewers of such photos will recognize that what is before them isn’t in fact real, and shun those images in favor of more accurate ones.

That being said, if I'm going to do it, I want to do it right. I haven't had any experience with any HDR tools other than doing it manually in PS or using the HDR function, but have read in several places about Photomatix and Picturenaut and am curious how well they work. Anybody with experience in this area care to comment?