If and when should I use * button

Karl C wrote in post #5212330
Just out of curiosity, which would you choose? HDR or ND?

While HDR may have its place, I would think doing it old-school with the filter, at the time of the shot, is better. Try to get it nailed with the camera.

ND all the way.

sadatk wrote in post #5212345
ND all the way.

How would you handle the dark tree on the right?

The dark/light split is fairly straight so can be handled using a ND filter, but the tree on the right is still problematic.

Wilt suggested, "Two shots composited via HDR methods, or ..." which might work OK, but I'm not a big fan of the halos I see from most of the HDR shots we see here. I'd shoot two shots in RAW ( if possible) in manual exposure mode to get 4 possible "exposures" in conversion, & use a Layer Mask to put the right "exposure" where I wanted it. Layer Masks are powerful & very easy to use once you understand the simple concept behind them.

One example here.

See post #9 for more links; PS Elements in Post # 14
A question about sky

Heres an image that relied heavily on masks:
Mustang & B-17 + PS

Karl C wrote in post #5212330
Just out of curiosity, which would you choose? HDR or ND?

While HDR may have its place, I would think doing it old-school with the filter, at the time of the shot, is better. Try to get it nailed with the camera.

I have not tried HDR techniques myself, so I reserve judgment on that. The filter is an issue, as has been pointed out. And I am not generally of the opinion that split ND filters always achieve a natural appearance. I would try to shoot RAW and do a lot of PP.