Parts of this Raw Nikon.NEF are exposed well. Parts are over exposed. But not hopelessly so. Barn Swallow from Antelope Island Utah–an island in the Great Salt Lake. 600mm Tamron lens on a hand held monopod. On the exhale. After a deep breath.
The jpeg below is a few years old–made with UFRAW and Gimp. RawTherapee has changed everything since then. I’ll add my latest take (which hasn’t happened yet) at some point.
The plumage is extraordinary. Here’s my attempt, bit of sharpening to accent the feathers, saturation because the colors are just so nice, and a “portrait” crop:
Extremely nice and sharp photo @pittendrigh! At first I thought there is nothing much to do. Then I saw blown highlights.
I used the latest ShadowsandHighlights enhanced RT5.4 (thank you @Morgan_Hardwood) to control the blown highlights in the foreground and plumage on the bird. It works extremely well. There is also new (at least to me) Soft Light module in the color tab. Used it too. The crop ratio was decided so as to give more space where the bird is looking.
Here is the outcome. _PIC1975.jpg.out.pp3 (11.6 KB)
Another “ShadowsandHighlights enhanced” test, trying different tools in small doses. Nothing worth mentioning in my edit, but the bird and the photo are really nice.
Here is my take with PhotoFlow. I have used the newly introduced “dynamic range compressor” tool to increase the local contrast and underline the texture of the bird’s body:
you try to talk with a red ball in your mouth >… PF ref, maybe
anyway we’ve been having so many nice versions lately !! Here there is a glow in the dark bird version from a bird from the cold with a warm heart, a napoleonic portrait from the gg butcher , the colourfull infectious z virus’ stripin’ from @Joan_Rake1, the investigations into the soul from the man eagle and last but surely not least a cool cat making a bird surf!!! fuck me we’re going all crazy… for that matter, the good shreedhar’s, sls’, jacal’s, mine and even your versions are “playing it safe”. Salu2 hombre
On the exhale. After a deep breath.
<< is that the norm for TF shooting? I ask 'cause I always heard (and is actually how I go about it) that the shutter release is supposed to happen while holding (a bad thought, jeje), maybe there are different techniques; I’m curious, what’s your take @pittendrigh?
One of the techniques (the one I use, at least) is taking a deep breath, holding a little bit, then releasing the shutter while slowly and uniformly exhaling.
that image should be tagged as graphic content jejejej ej
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I know my limitations, so I generally make comments on discuss and hope others deliver for me. 
PF ref, maybe