High dynamic range (HDR) photos shown more range of light and darkness than normal photos. When you see them, they tend to look more like how you'd see things with your eye, so most people find them pretty pleasing. You can also use the HDR technique to map tones together to create pictures that look almost painted.

If you are interested in trying out the technique, this site (http://www.nill.cz/index.php?set=tu1) has a nice short tutorial on how to create HDR photos in photoshop.