Which one?

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fotogrob

fotogrob

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After joining a local camera club which holds competitions, I've discovered that darker backgrounds do well to make the subject "pop". I can see that. But on the other hand, photographers like Jan Wegener seem to prefer lighter pastel like backgrounds which look good too. So in that vein, here a 3 photos I took a a recent vacation in Antigua. One BG is unedited, one 1/2 stop darker, one 1/2 stop lighter. I sense the answer might be personal taste or ultimate use of the image.
Which do you prefer and why? Much appreciated.
 

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fotogrob said:
Bill, all of the birds images are exactly the same. I only masked and altered the exposure of the background. Unless you're saying that the bird appears sharper because of the background.
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Since you put in for critique I was just noting that to me the most in focus part is the body, on all. It's a good shot though, just a slight miss, or maybe it's just me. Overall I preferred the number 3 background. Not much else to critique. It's well exposed and I like how you processed it. You left some room in the direction of flight so that's good too.
 
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bleirer said:
Since you put in for critique I was just noting that to me the most in focus part is the body, on all. It's a good shot though, just a slight miss, or maybe it's just me. Overall I preferred the number 3 background. Not much else to critique. It's well exposed and I like how you processed it. You left some room in the direction of flight so that's good too.
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Thank you
 
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The dark bird contrasts more with the light background, so that would be my pick for making the bird stand out. Number three looks good, as well, though. Number one looks too dark overall, to me.
 
Member's gallery
I prefer the 3rd one. It is visually more appealing to me and seems more natural than the second one. However, this is just my preference. Number one is too dark of a background for this particular bird.
 
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MattOZW said:
As regards background I would go for one, subdued and not detracting from the bird. 2 is too bright, 3 OK but prefer 1! Personal taste, if you want to win camera club competitions then you need to second guess the judge ;)
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Thanks Matt. You're absolutely right. I've found that judges in general prefer darker backgrounds like the one you selected.
 
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I almost picked #2 because I like the brighter colors on the bird but the bg is a bit too bright so overall, I would pick #3. It was somewhere in between 1 and 2, it seems to have the best combo of color between the bird and bg.
 
Member's gallery
fotogrob said:
After joining a local camera club which holds competitions, I've discovered that darker backgrounds do well to make the subject "pop". I can see that. But on the other hand, photographers like Jan Wegener seem to prefer lighter pastel like backgrounds which look good too. So in that vein, here a 3 photos I took a a recent vacation in Antigua. One BG is unedited, one 1/2 stop darker, one 1/2 stop lighter. I sense the answer might be personal taste or ultimate use of the image.
Which do you prefer and why? Much appreciated.
Click to expand...
For me, I like in order #1, 3 and 2. To me, #2 is too light and takes away from the subject and makes it look a bit washed out.
 
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