Just out of curiosity since your profile suggests your from an older cohort.
Do you actively remember the Pixelmatix tone mapping era, or where you already old enough to see this as a passing fad, or was this a more niche thing than I remember?
Now I even remember the 2005 HDR HL2 Lost Coast Demo was a thing 20 years ago: https://bit-tech.net/previews/gaming/pc/hl2_hdr_overview/1/