Manual
Manual HDR is simply about layering your individual exposures one on top of the other then masking out parts you want hidden.
This takes quite a bit of brush work but you do get very fine control over which exposure is visible where. This method is also useful for when there is movement between frames. With the fine control you can choose exactly which layer to use finely blend in highlight or shadow details.
In my Photoshop Layers tab you can see the three exposures I took,
Layer 0 : -2EV
Layer 1 : 0EV
Layer 2 : +2EV
If you know your masks then you'll be aware, from top to bottom (ignoring the adjustments), Layer 0 is mostly blacked out with only the very brightest part - the sun - allowed to show through.
With the Layer 1, all the sky is shown along with a touch of highlight on the water.
Layer 2 is completely visible but is occluded by the the relevant parts of Layers 0 & 1 above it. What you're left with is the foreground rocks and the water - but toned down slightly.
Now in this particular example, the waves have moved between frames. By very gently (Brush @ 1% flow) painting in Level 1 on top of the Layer 2 we can minimise the problems caused by this movement.