Originally Posted by john.b

The "problem" is that many can't resist the urge to go nuts on the tone mapping and turn the scene into some ethereal otherworldly image. Done with restraint, it can bring out highlights in one section of a image that might otherwise have blown out detail.

Here's a picture from Wikipedia's HDR page that IMO shows an example of lost contrast and detail in three individual exposures (along the bottom) restored via HDR without going too terribly far overboard...