HDR vs simple editing, need help convincing HDR is better

[Ben 'Benneh' Rendall]

so i decided id try and do a little HDR imaging, i used a friends camera and worked out how to take 3 images with different exposures yadda yadda, then i used photoshop CS5.5's HDRpro function, but from what i can tell, all ive done is enhance the colours so i opened the original image in a separate file and upped the saturation and colour values and got a very smiliar result, so i need a little convincing as to why doing HDR is any better than some basic editing

ive linked the images ive used for example
i shrunk all the images down to 1080 so they werent too over sized for viewing

original:
ploader.net/files/8d755f03d0bb28d104df600f258eaf93.jpg

HDR image:
ploader.net/files/536d61d12bc890f3959749b1720d56f4.jpg

Basic editing (non HDR):
ploader.net/files/6a823065fe1bc89df08079019ac8c893.jpg

(this is my first post on the forums so im not allowed to post full links)

i know HDR images look amazing, and this is only my first attempt, but it doesnt seem like its worth the effort right now which sucks to me, can anyone help convince me its worth the effort?

 

[Ben 'Benneh' Rendall]

also here is another image i just made of a house across the street
ploader.net/files/74aaf41c351b3b472bc45fe9c2fdb800.jpg

 

[$1r_M4x1mu$]

Hi Ben 'Benneh' Rendall

HDR photography involves far more picture quality than a normal photography,

This may help to clarify the concepts a bit .
HDR Photography

Hope this helps.

 

[Ben 'Benneh' Rendall]

i know what a HDR image is and how theyre made, i just found that myne didnt come out looks very nice, after reading that i realise that the night scene i just photographed isnt going to work (and it doesnt after photoshopping it together)

should pictures be taken in RAW format? or does the format not help at all? because the images ive used have been jpg's but at a size of 3600 high

also heres the night shot i mentioned
ploader.net/files/40670d456026012f143ab07968b148ac.jpg

 

[Steve]

You're 1st image "8d755f03d0bb28d104df600f258eaf93.jpg" has no shadow or highlight clipping at all.
The entire dynamic range was captured in that shot.

It's a properly exposed image in a very low dynamic range environment.

The other 2 images are brighter and brighter still.
In those last 2 images you have highlight clipping which you would expect when you over expose.

The point of overexposing is to get clipped details out of the shadows, but like I said initially there are no clipped details in the shadows or highlights in the first image.

HDR is a way to capture shadows and highlights that can't be captured in a single photograph.

As for Raw or JPG:
You are better off shooting Raw all the time and certainly when doing HDR because Raw has a larger dynamic range than JPG.

 

[Ben 'Benneh' Rendall]

You're 1st image "8d755f03d0bb28d104df600f258eaf93.jpg" has no shadow or highlight clipping at all.
The entire dynamic range was captured in that shot.

do you mean by no clipping that it has the complete range of information it needs, from black to white (dark to light) in that single image?
if so what im getting is i need to use more images with much more extreme exposures, like in the tutorial maximus linked they use 9 images

im just here to learn somthing hopefully

 

[Carson]

The HDR is actually worse in this case. Look at her hands, it leaves an unwanted line along her arms and hands. On the contrary, it does not in the edited one, but in the edited one it leaves yellow splotches along her arms, which can be removed with the clone tool and the healing brush tool. Look at the images carefully.

Here I removed some defects in the picture:: Idk if its what your looking for but oh well.

 

[Steve]

do you mean by no clipping that it has the complete range of information it needs, from black to white (dark to light) in that single image?

In this particular image yes.
The entire range from darkest to lightest exists in that single image.

if so what im getting is i need to use more images with much more extreme exposures

That's right.
Here's an example:

This was an exercise for me.
This was what I got with the images I've attached.

These shots weren't meant as fine art or great photography but an exercise for me to play around with HDR.

 

[RedneckR0nin]

For HDR to be as successful as it can be you need to shoot bracketed Raw shots. Anything else doesn't do the trick IMHO!