I have followed several HDR tutorials using either mapping to the sphere ambient colour or using the IBL node in mental ray. I have even used the lightgen plugin to fake it but no matter which way I do it, I end up with a completely washed out image and all the lit surfaces are just white. If I turn down the colour gain it improves a bit but I quickly loose any detail in the reflections.
Can someone please tell me how I can adjust the exposure such that it looks right?

Thanks