Today I experimented with processing 2 versions of the same dusk scene. The first photo was taken from a single shot and process with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop CS3. The second photo of the same scene is a true HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo processed from3 RAW files shot at different exposures and merged in Photoshop CS3. Which one do you prefer?
The World According to Roland 
Both are interesting but the second is more natural and the first looks too much unreal.
those are fantastic! i prefer the second one, the true HDR.
I prefer the second version for it smoother sky and it cool color tone.
Tony Quan
Wow! Just great! When to try try HDR now.
Tough call…generally I don’t prefer the HDRs because they have a way of looking “plastic” sometimes.
Nice work on both but I prefer the first. There is a level of dark and light that seems just a little bit unsettling — in a good way. The second shot is just too evenly lit. I find the problem with HDR is that it takes all the tones and treats them the same, boosting shadows and saturating colors without concern for what they mean visually. Thanks for the comparison.
I far prefer the first one. Surprisingly, it seems to have better highlight detail, and I like the warm color tone, which is what I would expect for a dusk scene.