HDR technique

Exposure bracketing is the norm, but where do you start?

Assuming you bracket with 0, -2, +2, does the 0 represent an "exposed to the right" image?

Seems to me that, if that's the case, one might expect to have a lot of blown out highlights in that final image.

Wouldn't it make more sense to ETTR and dial down from there?

Opine please.

What are you asking? 0 is supposed to be a properly exposed image according to your cameras light meter. With HDR you take a lower exposure and a higher exposure to get the shadows and highlights to show up good when combining the 3 exposures into an HDR.

One might argue that your cameras light meter leaves a lot to be desired with reference to exposing to the right.

I would venture to guess that >95% of the shooters on this forum that shoot HDR's simply use their in-camera meter and bracket accordingly. a_kraker99 is correct..."0" signifies a properly exposed image, no matter which method is used.

And what type of metering method would those 95% use?

I would guess evaluative. Although you should always take care to expose your images correctly, HDR pictures are far more forgiving in terms of botched exposures because the software extracts the correctly exposed elements from each frame and renders them together. That extra 1/3 - 2/3 stops used when exposing to the right will have less effect in an HDR image.