I was walking across campus today and looked up to see these “furry” branches. All I had was my snapshot camera (Canon SD800), so I tried the “minimalist” technique from McCollough’s book, two exposures at +1.33 and -1.33, handheld, no aperture priority. I took several pairs, many did not work, but this one did!
For comparison, here is the straight up 0EV image.
The HDR version definitely preserves the sky and opens up the shadows. By the way, the “fur” is the ubiquitous Resurrection Fern found on most old growth oaks in Florida.