Trump Tower

This is a "poor man's" HDR of the iconic landmark in downtown Chicago.

Since the dynamic range of the scene exceeded the camera's ability to record adequate detail in all the the tonal ranges, I captured a series of three bracketed images spaced 2 stops apart (-2, N, +2). Although the Merge to HDR function worked well in Photoshop, I wanted more control. By stacking all three images and then assuring that they were in register, I was able to use layer masking to reveal the proper detail all the way from the shadow areas at street level, to the cloud details in the bright sky overhead.

The secret to good HDR is to use it judiciously so that the scene looks the way you remember it, as opposed to an overly processed glowing landscape from another planet...