I have come across these techniques recently but can't see the point of doing one with a software and another manually with a photoshop tool. Basically what we are achieving is "expected" exposure for the complete picture with different pictures combined in different exposure settings.

IF the method is almost same why different name? 
In one way digital blending looks similar to combining of two different pictures to me. 

Kindly correct me if my point of view is wrong.
Thank you.