Well, last trip I took two different shots of HS without going into the park...I initially didn't process these or post them thinking they weren't really that great. But looking back, I decided to try giving them a little love and see what could come of them. The first was a snapshot in the true sense. It was the day I checked in, and was just heading out to Marketplace from Boardwalk to grab a bite to eat. The busses out of Boardwalk are a PITA when they stop at all the other resorts, so I opted for the relaxing mode of boating to Hollywood Studios and then taking that bus to Marketplace. Just walking past the front gates on the way to the busses, I noticed the lovely sunset and the lights just coming on in the park. I only had my ultra-compact T100 along, but still wanted to get a shot of that for posterity: A few nights later, the situation was much more challenging. I was on the way back from the busses heading to the boat to Boardwalk (having come from Magic Kingdom by way of the Wilderness Lodge Boat then the bus to Hollywood Studios). Again, the lights caught my eye, but this time it was night, I had no tripod, and only my 18-250 F3.5-5.3 lens. Still, I figured it was worth a try...so I went to ISO800 and stood as steady as I could for a handheld snap: Nowhere near as good - the lights are blown out and the rest is too dark...but I was able to boost the skies' relative brightness enough to see the spot beams arching out and some of the foreground widewalk (the original was basically all black). So even though not one of my best, I was at least happy that some post processing brought out enough detail to see where I was, and somewhat captured the atmosphere of that night scene.
Yep, I do that a lot. Hey, I got this great VR lens and I don't mind pushing the ISO all the way to 1600. Most of the time it doesn't work but when it does, you can get some great shots. Good recovery job, Justin, from a fellow push the technology to the limits photographer. It doesn't cost nothing but our time, right? Or, so I keep telling myself.
Thanks Scott. Yeah, I never give up on shots like that. I never delete my original shots, and always save edits as separate new files. You never know if some processing software down the road doesn't do some miraculous recovery job and some of those shots you thought were throwaways might end up being hidden gems! I've recovered a lot of very very underexposed shots or mismetered shots, and though the results may never end up among my best, they often are endearing to me just for the discovery of finding out what details are hidden in those shadows.
