Wild Berries - two shots, different lighting.

cgipson1 · Oct 2, 2011

Which do you prefer?

#1

#2

Derrel · Oct 2, 2011

I prefer the first shot, by a mile! It has better, richer color on the berries, and a LOVELY, light, airy-looking background. The leaves in the lower right hand area as seen against the yellow OOF areas of the backdrop--simply lovely!!! I do not even mind the fact that the berries are flash-illuminated. To me, the first photo really "works", whereas the second picture has dull berries, and the leaves appear as if they were grossly over-exposed (probably due to the dark backdrop fooling the meter) and then the exposure recovered in post processing.

cgipson1 · Oct 2, 2011

Derrel said:
I prefer the first shot, by a mile! It has better, richer color on the berries, and a LOVELY, light, airy-looking background. The leaves in the lower right hand area as seen against the yellow OOF areas of the backdrop--simply lovely!!! I do not even mind the fact that the berries are flash-illuminated. To me, the first photo really "works", whereas the second picture has dull berries, and the leaves appear as if they were grossly over-exposed (probably due to the dark backdrop fooling the meter) and then the exposure recovered in post processing.

Thanks! Glad you like it! You are dead on, Derrel! I had my girlfriend acting as a diffuser light blocker on the first shot... second shot was shot with dappled sunlight (harsh!). You probably noticed that the angles are almost identical on the shots, except I got lower on #1 to bring in Aspens for the background. I still used a light fill flash on the berries as the shade was a bit flat...

both shot with 70-200 2.8. #1 was at wide open at 2.8, #2 was at F8

cgipson1 · Oct 2, 2011

I have been trying to identify the berries in the photos above... I think they are Dwarf red whortleberry (Vaccinium scoparium) but not 100% sure. Can anyone here ID them? Thanks.....

D-B-J · Oct 2, 2011

I actually prefer the second, mainly because there is more bokeh, where as the first is simply a wash of color. Although the berries are lacking a little bit of saturation in the second.

cgipson1 · Oct 2, 2011

D-B-J said:
I actually prefer the second, mainly because there is more bokeh, where as the first is simply a wash of color. Although the berries are lacking a little bit of saturation in the second.

I had to do a lot of corrective cloning in #2.. to kill the fried areas. Sun was HARSH! So thanks.. I guess I did an ok job!

K8-90 · Oct 2, 2011

I think I may also prefer the second shot. The first one looks like you used on-camera flash, as the reflection is centered. I also find the background too simple - the berries aren't unique enough to justify removing all context (ie. not a specimen shot). However, I think the white balance may be off, as the berries in the second shot look more orange than red...

Just took another look. I change my vedict - I like the composition of the first, but the background of the second, lol

cgipson1 · Oct 2, 2011

K8-90 said:
I think I may also prefer the second shot. The first one looks like you used on-camera flash, as the reflection is centered. I also find the background too simple - the berries aren't unique enough to justify removing all context (ie. not a specimen shot). However, I think the white balance may be off, as the berries in the second shot look more orange than red...

Just took another look. I change my vedict - I like the composition of the first, but the background of the second, lol

#1 was shade and fill flash.. #2 was bright dappled sun. #1 has more accurate berry color. I wish I hadn't been lazy, and just pulled out the SB-900 I had with me, and setup a OC fill flash to get rid of that centered highlight.