HDR-BW

Inmy last article, I talked about tone compression using HDR, and the character that Tone Mapping can impart to an image.
HDR FOR TONAL COMPRESSION
From a practical standpoint, a modern digital sensor has about 7–9 stop tonal range. This doesn't allow us to capture wide tonal range images accurately. What we end up with in this case is an image that must favor either the shadows, or the highlights.
By using multiple exposures and merging them,  HDR allows us to extend that tonal range and capture detail all the way from the brightest highlights to the darkest shadows.
I refer to figure 1 again. In this image, we are able to see detail on the sunlit water, as well as in the shadows of the tree. If this had been shot with one capture, either the highlights would have been blown out, or the shadows would have blocked. This was shot as a 9 stop bracket, allowing good detail throughout.

Figure 1.
This image was compressed using a 9 stop bracket, and merged to an HDR, then Tone ...