I think you will find that each camera will have to be tweaked individually based on the lighting, distance, and other variables placed on the target area. WDR can be effective in areas with shadows (which you have in those pics) or contrasting light in the same target area. There is no one size fits all kind of settings to be honest. It will take a few weeks of constant tweaking before you will become comfortable with the results given the limitations of the hardware/software. assuming day/night schedules and profiles you will want to tweak those as well because the lighting changes everything with the IR during the night. i can say that i have some cameras that i've been tweaking for many many months. say you fly a flag or something like that during certain months, it can cause all kinds of false trips so marking your masking/hotspot areas will play a big part as well. outdoor lighting schedules, porch light schedules may require additional masking to avoid false trips. you can set the sensitivity relatively high and then adjust it down based on its ability to capture stray animals or slow walking people. do tests by walking in front of your cameras mimicking everyday occurrences and also discrete entry into your property. loiter in front of your gate and test the sensitivity settings.
you look at what a traditional installer does and technically that is the easy part as far as cost/time for an install. the effective systems are the ones that have been tweaked over a long period, adjusted for weather, wild animals, pets, humans, lifestyle movements etc. which can't be tested in one day like you would think possible. wait till you have to adjust for a thick fog with an IR sensor. some environmental applications will be difficult to adjust for and you will just have to do the best you can.
luckily most burglars have a door to door sales scheme they back up on when noticed engaged in prowling, so typically they approach your home as non threatening. so basically I treat every approach to my home as a threat. stick a video surveillance sign on your property at the entrances to discourage actual sales folks from wasting the time to walk up the driveway.. If folks are still passing the sign treat them with an elevated threat level. stick the sign below at your gate. If they still enter your property then you may have a problem short of a uniformed service person whom you can identify their associated fleet vehicle with.
