One of the beautiful things about large digital files is the latitude of detail–if the overall exposure is good shadows areas can be brightened and highlights can be darkened in post production. Digital photographers can do this in camera with graduated neutral density filters, but the “trick” is less effective with angles. For this Petaluma River image, in Photoshop, I pulled up the shadow areas and lowered the highlights with the “Shadows and Highlights” image adjustment tool to give it an HDR effect.
Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm at 24mm. 1/160 second at f/11, ISO 200.
Canon T2i rolling on the river.