That is the question. HDR is a photography technique that I have been toying with attempting for a while (for you photography types, it’s basically a digital take on bracketing with a few more spiffy things). My hesitation has always been that poorly done HDR looks fake and cartoony….and I have never been a huge fan of tons of post-processing to the images. I saw some examples on-line the other day that got me thinking again about doing it, so I gave it a try the other night while I was at the firehouse. The biggest restraint is simply the cost of the computer program that everyone recommends….it’s $99 – so it doesn’t break the bank, but it isn’t something just to throw money at if I don’t like it. The program is available for trial, but it puts watermarks on the photos – which you will see below. There are two images…one is the correct exposure through the camera, the second is the HDR image.
I want to know…is it worth it? Talk amongst yourselves.
Original
HDR
The Life of a Little Hippie 
Interesting…You capture so much more of the picture in the HDR shot, including the wreath in the corner that you might have wanted to be blacked out. It seems more useful to have a more clear picture, but then I guess you have to decide if it is more important to capture the quality you want exclusively in an original.