At last Joel have put together a video tutorial that goes through step by step the exact process he uses for all his gritty HDR Backgrounds.  Follow him in the field as he demonstrates the camera operations, and then as he goes through both Photomatix and the Photoshop process. This 45 minute video also covers his post gritty photoshop techniques uses on both his portraits and the backgrounds.

Keep in mind that there are hundreds of ways to achieve any given post processing technique and that this video covers how Joel works in Photoshop to achieve the gritty edgy look used in his images and assumes the viewer has some basic knowledge of Photoshop.  The objective of this video is to give you a creative tool to fulfill your vision as an artist and as with any process there are creative decisions that only you can make. This video is recorded on a Mac using Photoshop CS4.