HDR from old files/photos?

Okay I'm a complete newb to HDR. My understanding is that I have to have at least three bracketed shots of the same image to get the "raw materials" I need to merge to get a HDR image. Next time out I plan on doing just that when I shoot. I use Aperture and I have just downloaded the Photomatix HDR plug-in for Aperture. Now, to my first question. Can I, in Aperture, take an old photo I like, create a couple of duplicate images in Aperture and then change the exposures on these duplicate images to, in effect, artificially create bracketed images that can be used to make a HDR image? Like I said, I'm a complete newb to HDR and maybe this is a stupid question but I thought it might be a way to at least experiment with HDR until I get some true bracketed images to play with.

Funnily enough we were having this discussion a few theads above/belows.

I still don't see how this works (see my previous post).

Have a look at this tutorial though -

http://digital-photography-school.com …g-hdr-images-in-lightroom

Andy

Creating multiple "exposures" in a raw converter from a single image does not create additional dynamic range data. That being said, if your workflow suits the blending or some other combination of multiple versions of the same image, then you may benefit from this approach.

kirk

Tried it and it seemed to work (check it out)...

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1359582

...however in that thread you'll notice tmcman suggested that I might get just as good results tone mapping the zero image alone. I'll try that next time I have time and see. I'll be heading to work in a few so no time to do it now.