Bustak introduced HDR imagery in his Northern Thailand through a rebel dslr thread with a few dramatic photos taken in the North and a beauty from KL.
https://teakdoor.com/northern-thailan...l-dslr-11.html
I've been experimenting with the same photomatix software since I returned from Hong Kong.
Essentially in laymans terms the human eye is sophisticated enough to balance the light across 20 'stops' so you can see the view in front of you clearly. A camera is not so capable and can only accurately balance it's view by 3 stops. Hence when you look at something that is backlit, the human eye can see it, a camera cannot. For example this picture of the buddah on Lantau Island. By exposing the sky correctly, the camera is unable to see the buddah itself.
By taking 3 shots of the buddah, correctly exposing the various components of the picture, you can merge them using HDR software, creating 'the perfect picture'. You can adjust various levels within the software to get some dramatic effects.
Some of the best pics I have seen is landscapes where foliage is always at many many different angles each reflecting different light levels. Suddenly they are all balanced and the effect is stunning in my book. With permission I will later post some pics done by a friend of mine to highlight this.
As I said in the other thread I tend to preset auto exposure bracketing. I underexpose all shots by -2/3 of a stop in Thailand. I then set one stop above and below that. So you get -1&2/3 and +1/3 to go with it.