Came here to say exactly this! In addition, you could stack and them once you have something that's at least 8 bits per pixel use Photoshop to clean things up.
I guess instead of making an HDR image from SDR images you'd be making an SDR image from LDR images. :-)
My feeling is that I may be able to take my talents elsewhere (even to my own company) and make a competing (or even completely different) product and take home a bigger slice, so you better make it worthwhile for me to stay at your company if you want those talents. I happen to work for a company that pays significantly higher that $150k, so it's not an issue at the moment, but it's always in the back of my mind.
As a person who asks, I can tell you that you're wrong. My spouse confided in me (years after it happened) that when I asked to kiss them the very first time, they thought it was kind of a turn-off and wished I had just done it. (But they said "yes", so there's that.)
I guess instead of making an HDR image from SDR images you'd be making an SDR image from LDR images. :-)