HDR before/after

There is a program called Photomatix that you can download as a trial or buy for about 100 bucks that is awesome for making HDR's. I highly recommend trying it...oh, I also suggest shooting your HDR in RAW) I'm thinking I'll buy it next week when I'm back in Vancouver. (looks like I'm making the plunge and buying a macbook pro) HDR or High Dynamic Range photography is a controversial type of post processing for some but I think it's a cool way to make photos pop.
I took 3 images of the alley in Guanajuato with 3 different exposures. (i didn't use a tripod for these but really should have because my camera moved some between the 3 shots...even though I shot them in less than a second.)
This exposure was way overexposed.

This exposure is what the camera gave me because I metered off a brighter area. It's underexposed in some areas and overexposed in others. Not great but kind of what you would normally get.

This shot is really underexposed.


However, together these 3 shots made this HDR photo....


You can also make more of a "surreal" effect....


Give it a try...It's easy and fun.
Here is an HDR site that I've mentioned before. This guy does interesting work. I don't always like HDR but in small doses it's great.