Hi kcon1,
I just happened to stumble across this thread, and saw that you were referencing my stuff. Im flattered, thank you.
I go into a bit of detail in some of my previous threads about how I did these. But basically, my HDR process involves 3 exposures (most of the time), then I use photomatix to generate the HDR and tone mapping. Then I take it into photoshop CS2, and do several things with levels, curves, dodging, burning, hue/saturation, brightness/contrast, unsharp mask, etc. I tried using Merge to HDR in PS, but just didnt like it all that much (just my opinion and preference). Depending on the image, I may also take it into Lightroom, but not always.
But to answer your question, yes, photoshop can do those effects. I just prefer to use a combination of photomatix and PS. Again, thanks.
Best regards,
NJ