it's not too extreme as hdr's go which is a personal annoyance of mine. i prefer to keep the hdr work i've done as suibtle as possible, more an effect to enhance the final piece than somehting stand alone - if that makes sense? but there are times when i do come across something different that i like and this would be it....you'll have to forgive me, it's 1:50am and i'm babbling lol
That does make sense, yes. I think that a lot of the time HDR should be subtle, I've seen many a picture ruined by having too strong an effect put on. However I think that if done well a strong HDR effect can look pretty good, in this case, and a few others I've done, the original shot is actually pretty boring, and a more extreme effect is what makes it into a decent picture. Anyway, don't worry about babbling, I'm in the UK too and I'm not entirely lucid either 