Cheapness & Post-processing

Here are some helpful programs:

UFRAW - Free RAW studio with many manual controls in Linux, Mac, and PC flavors.

http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/index.html

Gimp - Free photoshop equivalent with lots of documentation.

http://www.gimp.org/

QTPFSGUI - Free real HDR creation software (can work for fakes too)

http://qtpfsgui.sourceforge.net/

Here are some helpful programs I use to edit pictures. I will give an example of how I use them together.

 Open Raw Image file in UFRaw. Save 3 times with different ev's.

Open up in QTPFSGUI. Merge together into an HDR photo.

Post edit in gimp.

As you can see, these programs are all valuable tools that cost you nothing.

I might add more later if I can think of any.

Drop a comment if you want me to add something you know of.