LR 2.1 &/vs HDR

[stever]

I've just started using Photomatix to process some images braketed +/-2 from my 40D using exposure blending.   I seem to be getting better results in LR from the "middle" image using exposure, recovery, blacks, and fill light than with Photomatix.  Tried dark and light images developed from the "middle" image exposre blended in Photomatix and can't see an improvement over the LR developed "middle" image (but they're no worse, and better than the 3 Photomatix processed images).

Am i insensitve to some nuance of tone?  Hard to believe LR is recovering that much information.  Am i misusing Photomatix?

[Schewe]

Unless you scene has a really, REALLY wide dynamic range, the odds are you can take a "good" exposure and use Fill Light and Highlight Recovery and get a very good contrast range from a single image. Where HDR really shines is where you have very deep shadows and very bright highlights. In that case, using HDR will allow you to put 3, 5 or 7 stop ranges together and preserve both the deep shadows and bright highlights by using very exactly tone curves. But it's really east to over do it and get a flat image.