Yesterday I started experimenting with creating high dynamic range images.  I have a Canon Powershot IS S3 and it has a nice feature called Auto Exposure Bracketing.  This takes 3 continuous pictures with varying exposure.  In order to make an HDR image you need to capture the same scene with the same focus and different exposures.  One thing that I have noticed is that when you have a larger number of pictures, say 5 instead of 3, the picture turns out better.  Another thing that I have noticed is that night shots turn out better, at least for me.

Here is a sample of an HDR image I created.

This picture may not seem particularly interesting, but when you consider that a normal exposure of this scene would look like this:

Then you can see how nice the HDR effect is.

So the settings that I am using on my Canon Powershot S3 are the following:

ISO 100

Av (Aperture priority)

+-2 exposure

After you have your 3 photos you can use Photomatrix or Photoshop CS2 or later to create your HDR image.  In CS2 and later go to File -> Automate -> Merge to HDR.

Here are a couple of other HDR images that I made: