Just take a look at the images below, they should give you a good idea.
On the left is the photo that the camera took. It's not how I recall it looked while I was there.
The house certainly wasn't that dark and there were clouds in the sky. The problem is that the digital technology (cameras and displays) are limited in the light ranges that they can capture and display. Digital cameras tend to clip the brightest light and the darkest light, see the clouds are gone!
On the right you can see the HDR version. I used 5 exposures at different light ranges and combined them to create a single High Dynamic Range image, then I used tone mapping to compress that information into a range the computer can display while'st looking closer to how I recall the image. HDRtist will save you from the complexities, all you need to do is to take photos at different light ranges and using HDRtist you can create images like the one on the right.
More information about HDR and it's history can be found over at Wikipedia.