I had my doubts about HDR but the image above has finally convinced me of its merits. The conditions were horrible for picture taking this day with a very bright, hazy sky. The foreground was in tree shade, the grass in direct sun, and the sky washed out white to the naked eye. Blending multiple exposures of this scene allowed for a decent image to be made. Before HDR I wouldn't have even picked up my camera on this day. Advocates of HDR say that proper use of the technology allows an image to be captured more closely to how the human eye sees it. After all, when you look at a bright sky your eye/brain doesn't turn the ground in front of you black like a camera will with one exposure. There's a lot more technical stuff about HDR than just blending exposures. All the science, I don't understand, but you can read about it in detail at this link.
Taken at Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Park.