One of the advantages of shooting raw is that it is possible to convert the same image more than once using different conversion settings. Put another way, one conversion can be made for the highlights and another for the shadows. These conversions can then be combined to produce an image which has more overall detail and greater dynamic range.
Consider this image (converted using Capture One DLSR with no exposure compensation). This was shot a bright summer's day in at in Sussex; the bright sun made it hard to show the tiling inside the archway without creating blown areas on the wall and window frames. So I made two separate conversions using -1 and +1 EC giving the following pictures:
-1 EC dark version | +1 EC light version
These were then combined to produce this composite, which shows the interior detail more clearly, but with less white-out around the window and with a little more detail in the hot spot on the brickwork.
I didn't invent this technique, but I have created a Photoshop action that will combine the light and dark images with or without intervention depending how you configure the action. I used as my source information posted on the , principally by Christian Kuiphoff and Bruce Ward. They don't claim ownership either, but don't know who to credit.
Click here to download the action, and see the following page for more explanation on what it does and how to use it.