Erik,
I believe you commented on an HDR image I posted awhile back and your comments were extremely insightful and helpful. I have read elsewhere that one of the advantages of HDR processing is the lower noise in shadows even though the DR of current sensors is so great. As this is still new to me somewhat, I have trouble avoiding the seduction of HDR's processing power, which you have successfully tamed with this image. I have HDR Effex 2 and find that it is often over the top, probably because I am not yet a sophisticated user. I have also heard that with HDR Pro in CS6 that you can work in 32 bit precision, but I can't see how that's possible if you save as a tiff and go back to LR where, I presume, your dealing with a 16 bit image. I like this topic that you've posted and would love to hear more of what you think about this. If there is another thread somewhere, I apologize and ask that you direct me there.