I'm using Photomatix Pro's trial software and have had an interesting result. I do have a copy of Photoshop CS3 although I'm really a beginner. I've been following an HDR tutorial www.stuckincustoms.com which shows the original RAW's plus the HDR being manipulated in CS3 with layer masking. I wondered if you'd used any form of layer mask work to come up with your result, maybe in Bracketeer?