Difficult Extended Dynamic Range

[Nikkor Shooter]

[Peter Connan]

Difficult situation indeed. But a lovely moment and well captured, although I would personally have made it even darker.

[Nikkor Shooter]

I would personally have made it even darker.

Even darker, Peter?

[Airy]

Third one looks particularly crisp, and the shapes of the two birds "blend" in an interesting way.
You may consider further cropping, esp. the right side and a little bit from the top. There is little foliage to be seen, but the color speckles they provide are quite pleasant. It is just that the dark top and right areas are a little bit too "massive" for my taste.

[Nikkor Shooter]

Thanks for your comment, Airy!

[Peter Connan]

Even darker, Peter?

I don't know if it's just my screen, but I can see no detail in large parts of the Egret's feathers, especially in the first shot.

[Nikkor Shooter]

I don't know if it's just my screen, but I can see no detail in large parts of the Egret's feathers, especially in the first shot.

Not your screen for sure… this just illustrates the great
difficulty involved with extended DR in such situations.

[Akira]

The lighting should be difficult to tame down for sure, but the moments you captured are amazing!

[Nikkor Shooter]

The lighting should be difficult to tame down for sure, but the moments you captured are amazing!

Thanks again!

[Jakov Minić]

It would help to know which camera and lens you used.
Also, my guess is you pumped up the contrast in post processing.
Underexposed images with blown highlights usually mean that.

[Nikkor Shooter]

It would help to know which camera and lens you used.

I don't think so, Jakov, since the same difficulty is there
what ever gear or brand one may use. Here, the combo
was made of the 600mm ƒ4 on the D850.

Also, my guess is you pumped up the contrast in post processing. Underexposed images with blown highlights usually mean that.

There are here two strong statements base on… a guess?
For the record, I don't use contrast, nor saturation, nor
vibrance (that, incidentally, does not exist in my RAW con-
verter!)… ever.

Exposure compensation — as it is called — is a strategic
tweak prior to SR to compensate the presence of the ex-
tended luminance in a scene and will not force the use of
a contrast tweak in post.


…or maybe I did not understand you well?

[Akira]

The D750 I'm using has a slight tendency to overexpose the highlight under contrasty situations.

Setting the Picture Control to "Flat" and the Active D-lighting to "Auto" helps noticeably, although it doesn't solve the problem completely.  The balance between the retaining of the shadow details and the preventing of the blown out hightight is better than underexposing a bit.

FWIW, I use CC2018 for the processing.

[Nikkor Shooter]

The D750 I'm using has a slight tendency to overexpose the highlight under contrasty situations.

Nope Akira… it has nothing to do with your camera
but the 18% average of the light meter. Nothing will
help better than EV tweak prior to SR.

I use CC2018 for the processing.

I've been adobe free since 4 years!

[CS]

I've been adobe free since 4 years!

You say that as though it's a badge of honor. I see it merely as a personal choice, nothing more.

[Nikkor Shooter]

You say that as though it's a badge of honor. I see it merely as a personal choice, nothing more.

You heard it as a badge of honour, Carl, and yes, it is
a personal choice. I only meant that I am no more in
a position to judge since I've been away so long.