No PP vs. Mild HDR

[CynicalJrk]

So I came across this picture I took a few months ago and thought I'd try a mild HDR treatment to it and see how it looked (single shot turned to multi exposure in PS Camera Raw, then PS CS4's HDR tool)... I can't really decide which looks better or if the HDR style even fits this type of candid shot. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Original:



Processed:

[takethislife5150]

It's really hard to discern any difference, I can see very subtle differences in brightness in certain parts of the picture, but that seems to be about it

[Mr Guy]

I think you need to mask out the face on the processed version. It's the only point where there's a distinct improvement. Other than the face, the colors seem desaturated in the processed version, particularly in the pink shirt and both red heads. Actually, looking again, if you didn't say which was which, I'd have probably thought the first was the processed. The contrast and colors are just better in the first, even though the face is lifted a bit better in the second.

[CynicalJrk]

Now that I look at it at a reduced size the difference really is less than I expected... I'll keep playing with it. Thanks for the comments!