ye gods! how good is the D800? excuse my front room...

room needs painting OK? ( there is blue masking tape on the front door behind the shade)I set this up for textures and retrieval. Straight exposure 30th second, ISO 200, 17-35mm, no exposure compensation, mirror lock-up to see what can be drawn out of a single exposure. I pulled shadows out in the living room and masked/ reduced brightness/contrast in the unshaded window to retrieve the exterior highlighted garden. There is no sharpening, but a gentle Noise Ninja universally applied. No sharpening at all.

There are many subtle results, all of which are very accurate to the scene ( I am there so I can Compare). I am quite astonished with how much information a good exposure contains. Its up to you how you conduct the orchestra- but if you are not careful you can end up like Mickey Mouse with buckets of water.
here are the before and afters.....