Assess The HDR RAW

The newly-created RAW file will appear in the ACR interface. This is made up from an exposure blend of the five source images, and the only difference between this and a regular RAW is that the exposure slider has a much greater latitude. It normally runs from -4 to +4 stops, but on the HDR file, it extends a full ten stops in both directions. The extremes won’t be of any use, but you do have the full exposure latitude of all five files, and the data is all contained in the same image.

The ‘Auto Tone’ option selected when merging the files usually does a good job of producing a natural-looking, balanced image, but you can override any of the settings using the sliders in the control panels.