Which Technique??

[scootermcq]

First off, I apologize for blatantly breaking rules... These are not 2 different edits, but 2 similar pictures taken in two totally different ways. The first is with a 50mm and ND filter, the second is with an 18-200 no filter. Which of the two images is the most appealing to you? I know I have a branch growing out of my wife's head, it was fairly unavoidable, I am just playing with techniques to see which is more appealing to people.


Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/2.2
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Return detected


Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 120 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Return detected

[Barbara V]

I prefer the 2nd image, it has a more intimate feel to it.

[zona5101]

oh geez Scott, I'm going to muddy it up and say I like the first one. It appears to have better tonal range and a bit more detail in the shadows, skintone a bit better too.

[LoveDSLR]

Since it is a portrait, I'll go for the second one (with cropping & additional pp).

- lower contrast
- captured the right moment

[candleman]

#1 is the overall winner for me.

in terms of the colour and contrast i like #1.
you could get the same out of #2 with some PP, which looks "muddy"

I like the composition of #1,

the "moment" is definatley better in #2 though,

[scootermcq]

Thanks guys... looks like everyone is about as torn as I am. I realize I can make the colors closer on the two images in PP, so I guess it is kinda a wash. It is good to know that I can get similar results in these two different ways. I find it interesting that I can get an almost identical defocused background with basically a kit lens. This was the first time I compared using aperture vs focal length to defocus. Obviously, if I was closer to the subject, aperture would win, but at 6 meteres I can get similar results with the 2 drastically different lenses.

[williamawalker]

I actually prefer the first one. Something about the second one just looks like a frame within a frame to me, almost like the lines are too sharp. The subject is also more to the center in the second. I like the composition of the first better. Overall color quality is better in number 1 as well.