Ledgerock

From the rocky shore of Lake Vermilion.
Yes, this is another HDR photo. I need the practice at this type of photography. I will spare you the intricate details or tutorials. Other fellow photographers and bloggers have excellent tutorials you can search out. HDR can be taken to two extremes; over saturated and tonemapped for a surreal cartoonish look, or processed in a realistic manner.
There is a place for HDR photography when there is a high range between the dark and bright areas in the subject you wish to shoot. Such as this photo. No, its not a great composition or photo, but a good example of bright and dark. The camera senses the brights skyline, but the rocky foreground will become a black blob shadow.

I wanted to show the rocky shoreline with the cracks and crevices in the rock against the bright pre-sunset lakeside sky. I took 3 photos, information shown below, and merged them into one image. That's where the tonemapping fun begins with Photomatix to bring out the details. But there is a fine line to watch for, otherwise you will cross over into the cartoonish look seen in this Arbys photo post.
I do find it fun to create a cartoonish image, I prefer the realistic look that shows more detail that would be lost to the shadows.

Three photos taken at:

Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/13 - Autoexposure Bracketing 0

Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/50 - Autoexposure Bracketing -2

Tv( Shutter Speed ): 0.3 - Autoexposure Bracketing +2

Av( Aperture Value ): f11.0

ISO Speed: 100 Focal Length: 17.0 mm

White Balance Mode: Daylight

HDR merged into one image via Photomatix