Digital cameras: HDR Recommended exposure range (bracketing)

Put it this way...

Our human's eye can view the dynamic range ( the differentiation of lighting - capable of showing white to black ), approximately 20 F-stops or so. Unlike the human eyes, a digital camera, today technology, can simulate around 10 F-stops or so. Why HDR ? It will add a few more F-stop to your modified picture. Therefore, the arranged HDR picture will look closer to that of what human's eye views.

Any way, you'll need a good camera that support AEB ( Auto Exposure Bracket such as DSLR ). How good your camera's dynaic range is ? www.dpreview.com shows the review for that.

How many pictures? It depends on what kind of picture you're shooting. The number is at least 3 for the minimum ( 1 normal exposure, 1+ f-stop overexposure, and 1- f-stop underexposure ). Nevertheless, HDR shooting is not necessary for including any movement, such as moving cloud or bushes on a windy day, waterfall, river flows, and so on. When you merge those picture files, you'll find out why. I hardly shoot HDR pictures, but occasionally. Besides, a tripod and remote control are the must.

I'd say Photoshop CS2 and CS3 make HDR developing easier. Any way, there're so many software available these days. But, your PC must be be powerful enough since it requires so much RAM memory. Good luck.