One tip I picked up from the HDRShop forum: after the program creates the image, hitting the plus and minus keys will cycle you through exposure levels. If it starts out looking too dark, 5 or 6 hits with the plus key will get the exposure to a more natural level. Then go to Image>Pixels>Scale to Current Exposure. My original images were coming out very dark at first, with the same results that you are getting: Dark and dull. This fixed the problem