The answer is easy for me - shooting in the camera's native ("raw") format rather than JPEG allows for a high degree of recovery when you "miss". There are other reasons (ability to adjust white balance, use camera profiles after the fact, etc) but exposure recovery is number one for me. The image below is the original raw file from the camera.

Big difference! The first step in processing this image was to increase exposure 1.5 stops. That's a lot! There were some standard edits made as well (contrast, color, noise reduction and sharpening) but 90% of the change was the ability to pull the exposure out of the shadows.

Shoot in the raw, you won't regret it!

Stay in focus,

Mark

A "lemonade shot" is one that's not quite right (out of focus, too much noise, etc) that you improved upon by accentuating the fault. This King Fisher is a great example.

The bird was not in sharp focus and was very far away which dictated a very deep crop - really making the noise stick out. So to make some lemonade out to this, the following formula was used:

Heavy noise reduction, even on the bird, which served to further smooth it out
A softening filter to smooth it out even more (accentuating the lack of focus on the bird)
A "painterly" filter even further accentuating the softness of the image.

The final result is an "artistic" image that does a nice job of presentation. Trying to fight the reality of this shot (working contrasts and details of the bird - followed by selective sharpening) would have resulted in a mediocre shot at best, most likely ending up in the trash.

Here as some great filter packages to checkout and play with. Give em a try!

Stay in focus,

Mark

Why Shoot Raw?

Better "Lemonade" With Filters