I wanted a photograph of Times Square. It was my first time using HDR. So, I took into consideration about exposure compensation for an even exposure. I set my camera with mirror lock-up, and self timer to reduce vibrations and increase sharpness of the image. I used AEB (Auto Exposure Bracket) shots in 2 stop intervals (-2,0,+2). I did a little tweaking to make the look how I wanted, but this negative and over-saturated fill in some of the highlighted areas which looks clearly fake as you can see in the full image and the close-up image. It's very clear in the lettering Ford and red back-lights on the cars.
Full Image:
Close-up 100%:
Camera Settings:
1/320 sec
ISO 800
f/11
24mm (24-105mm f/4L IS USM)
Is it due to the light flickering between shots or too bright or the processing of the three images merging together incorrectly? How do I compensate for this or what can I do the next time to prevent this from happening and result in a natural even exposure image using HDR?