I assume yall are talking JPGs. You can get an detail out of those areas with ACR shooting RAW.

I'm speaking mostly about the final product and the way I get there.

I shoot exclusively raw.

did we lose the discussion about over exposure?

also, with hi iso you DO NOT HAVE THE SAME range to mess with an image as you do one shot at a low iso - for those that think the same rules apply when shooting high iso, or that think you can pull a lot of data out of a high iso file, raw or other, particularly of animals or humans, I'd suggest you go shoot at 1600 or more and look at your results. . . the point is you must nail the exposure when shooting high iso or the image will suffer greatly from PP, much more than if it were shot at a low iso and processed the same. . .

Tony,
I thought the whole discussion involved exposure -- or rather, proper exposure. I shoot black dogs and white dogs. I can't afford to blow out highlights or lose detail in the blacks. So, proper exposure -- regardless of ISO -- is essential. As you point out, the higher the ISO, the less exposure latitude you have to play with. And the more difficult it is to pull detail out of the shadows, for example, without a lot of stuff you'll have to fix in PP.

Oh, and Preston, I only shoot RAW and you cannot recover totally blown-out highlights regardless of what you do. You can darken them but there is no data there. As Jim points out, just because the histogram is blinking, doesn't mean they are totally blown but I also shoot weddings and when you have white gowns and black tuxes, you have to be very careful about not letting the gown blow out.

Tony, doesn't high-ISO remind you of shooting Kodachrome vs Kodacolor in film days? You'd have lots more latitude with negative film than with slide film in general and Kodachrome was very exposure sensitive.

Jim