I was about to give up on HDR photos per my original test, but found out about a program called Photomatix Pro and gave it a shot.  Check out the results:

Not bad, eh!  For comparison, here’s a regular photo of the same shot (what I normally would have produced before the magic of HDR) -

Pretty [...]

(In case you aren’t familiar with HDR photography, check out this tutorial)
I messed around with the Nikon this morning and learned a lot about exposure and such.  There’s a ton to learn but it’s actually really interesting to me.

Here are two example photos.  On the bottom is the one that is HDR merged from Photoshop.  [...]

Flash must be off.
Menu > Release Mode > Continuous

Denotes exposure mode:

P: Programmed Auto - camera sets shutter speed and aperture for optimal exposure. Recommended when there is little time to adjust camera settings.
S: Shutter-Priority Auto - camera automatically adjusts aperture for optimal exposure
A: Aperture-Priority Auto - camera automatically adjusts shutter speed for optimal exposure
M: Manual - you control both shutter speed and aperture

Only available in P, S, A modes and most effective with center-weighted or spot metering.

Matrix (default): Camera meters a wide area of the frame and instantly sets exposure according to distribution brightness, color, distance, and composition for natural results.
Center-weighted: Camera meters entire frame but assigns greatest weight to center area. Classic meter for portraits
Spot: Camera [...]

Used for shots with high-contrast.  The camera evaluates various aspects of the scene and applies the appropriate processing:

reduces exposure
highlights, shadows and mid-tones are then adjusted
achieves optimal brightness

“Active” will adjusts the exposure before shooting to optimize the dynamic range, whereas regular D-Lighting option in the Retouch menu optimizes dynamic range in images after shooting.

I recently purchased the Nikon D60 camera for shooting virtual tour photos for my company TourVista Virtual Tours. This is a great camera, and my buddy Boosh who is a seasoned professional photographer passed along this advice for getting the most out of my pix:
With the D60 you should have the capability to shoot in [...]