In flight Hoodie (saved by the D800)

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Back to the local pond this evening ... and boy did the D800 save me. I was shooting these guys in manual as there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Everything was going great, until someone went to the other side of the pond and spooked them. I was semi-ready and fired off some shots ... and then they flew into the shade. I didn't have any time to increase the exposure (ideally I would have bumped the ISO up quite a bit). The result looked like a black LCD screen with very little detail. I was upset ... I knew I had locked focus! Well, I decided to keep it and try some PP. It took +3EV in LR to get from before to after, but I'll take it! Not much detail that I could pull from the blacks.

Shooting info:
Nikon D800 | 500 f/4 VR + 1.4xii
1/2500" | f/6.3 | ISO 640 (should have been ~3200)

[Miguel Palaviccini]

And the original ... SOOC

[dankearl]

Your PP is amazing. Nice flight shot, a raised near wing would have been spectacular.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Your PP is amazing. Nice flight shot, a raised near wing would have been spectacular.

Thanks Dan. I wish I could take credit, but the D800 sensor did a lot of the heavy lifting here.

[jack williamson]

That is very impressive. I would have probably deleted that in camera. How much noise reduction did you have to do?

[arash_hazeghi]

cool pose and BG, D800 sensor def helped with low shadow noise, the blacks still have no detail but I wouldn't expect that with this much under exposure. very good. hopefully next time you can nail those blacks too with.

[Diane Miller]

This is wonderful even for an image that had been perfectly exposed. It's so much of a temptation to pull too much detail out of darks just because we can -- this is what things look like!

Must be an awesome sensor, though, to give you that latitude. Good work!

[Lyle Gruby]

Agreed, saved by the D800. Blacks could use a little more detail, but still a great shot. It'll be a reason to go back!

[Dan Brown]

Great save! ETTL! (exposed to the left:bg3:)

[vishaljadhav]

i must say i am impressed with the image, flight nicely captured with a perfect BG, eye is rightly in focus
seeing the original i would sit and clap for the camera and you to get this in post processing
lovely image

[shane shacaluga]

Great save! You are using the setup I eventually would like to end up with. This makes me confident I will be making the right choice

Thanks for sharing.

[Karl Egressy]

Based on the original, you did some amazing improvement in PP, Miguel. Excellent flight shot.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Miguel, great to see one in flight, after having seen wing flaps and swimming poses. Nothing wrong with that either BTW. :w3 Im totally fine with this inflight pose, killer BG, and congrats on your fine pp work.

[Bill Dix]

Very nice flight shot,Miguel. Good reactions, pretty amazing sensor, and not to slouchy PP work to salvage it. Well done.

[Dan Brown]

Again, Great save, Miquel! Could you give a little more detail on your PP - NR, sharpening particularly? Thanks

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Again, Great save, Miquel! Could you give a little more detail on your PP - NR, sharpening particularly? Thanks
No problem, I'll go ahead and do that tonight when I get the chance.

[Daniel Cadieux]

No need to get it right in camera anymore!!! Kidding of course, but that is impressive recuperation there. Dynamic pose!

[gail bisson]

Holy Moly! I would have deleted that in camera!! I am afraid to raise the exposure by more than .5 on my 1DMKIV. Maybe I will be braver in the future.
Thanks for posting the OP to compare.
Tack sharp and love the green BG,
Gail

[christopher galeski]

its all been said,well don on saving it.

[David Salem]

Great work by you and the 800. Nice salvage on a heavily under exposed image. Yes the blacks are still not there but come on, look at the original. Good example of what can be done.

[Robert Holguin]

Very impressive indeed.
Excellent flight pose, sharp, and great comp.
Excellent PP skills.
Well done.