Yes, true, thats the great thing about HDR...
Well, for photographs at least.
Actually, the photographs are still pretty new to HDR and sorta "borrowed" this technology from the 3D-Guys (like i am, too).
HDR was a technology developed for / by the 3D industry, originally.
To put it short: We use HDR Spherical environments as an environment map to create realistic reflections and, even more important, use the floating point information to create realistic lighting for 3D Scenes. thats what it as originally invented for. But its just cool that photographs and photoeditor discovered this technology and used it for themselves