Shooting under Full Sun

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Mal Paso

Mal Paso

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There was a thread a while back about shooting midday in full sun with some saying they don't shoot under those conditions. What if a Condor landed in a tree 70 feet from your front door, moved closer so you got a better view and posed for 2 hours, you wouldn't take a picture? The Z was in the car which was the other side of the Condor but my D810 house camera is always ready. I had a full histogram. I shot with 0 Bias, preserving the highlights and used Curves to increase shadow contrast and pull out the shadows, which was much of the bird. The shadows looked a little anemic though so I tried D-Lighting in NX Studio and I think the results are much better. I used the "high" D-Lighting setting, the shadows were dark, he was too far from any reflected lighting. More photos: Condor
First Photo is Curves, Second D-Lighting. Thought, suggestions?

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What an opportunity! I keep hoping to see one closer than the dots circling way up above us in Arizona or near the Pinnacles NP. We could tell they were condors from the size difference with nearby vultures.
Nice shots! I like #2 better, even though there's more feather detail under the wings in #1.
 
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Mal Paso said:
Thought, suggestions?
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With wildlife sometimes we have to take what we're given and if a great subject is only present in less than great light then I'll usually take the shots and see how much I can salvage in post. Sometimes the shots just work depending on the subject, its pose and whether it casts any dark hard shadows over important areas of the photo. These shots of a a very interesting subject work, sure it would have been awesome if the light had been better but that apparently wasn't an option and you did a great job with the hand your were dealt.

If it's a common subject and the light isn't great I likely won't capture any images but if it's a rare or unique subject or even a somewhat common subject doing really interesting things I'll take the shots and see what I can do with them in post.

FWIW, I'd first try the simple things like just pulling up the Shadows and pulling down the Highlights before messing with D-Lighting or curves but that depends on what tools you like and have had success with on other subjects.
 
It's not your fault given the harsh lightning, but the blacks are too darn black. When large areas are absent detail they start to come forward and attract too much attention. All you can really do is either sacrifice the sky a little or maybe use some kind of blending with an exposure that hasn't crushed the blacks. It's a balancing act with a single exposure since the dynamic range of the scene exceeds the sensor, so you use blinkies to creep up on brightening without blowing out the whites in the head, and bring up the shadows and lower the whites in post.
 
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