Alrighty. Regardless of the fact that this A or B series (here, here, and here) has been really interesting for us, helpful, and popular with you (the last such post received over 1000 comments in 24 hours)…
This time it is of even greater interest for us. You see, we’re doing some image editing around here and we’ve stumbled into a little internal debate about which one of these two images is actually better, A or B. [You might remember these shots from the Nikon D7000 campaign…]
Hearing from you will help really help us. No qualifiers, don’t worry about our objectives, or the “assignment”. We want to know which one of these shots you like better. And please tell us in the comments below, not via twitter. Raw preference. Period. If you can add some “why”, that would be nice too. Full 600 pixel wide images after the jump. Hit ‘continue reading’ below [and btw, I’ve got a $1 gentlemen’s bet riding with Erik about which one will win, so don’t let me down!]…
After you all weigh in, I’ll tell you which one I like, which one I thought you’d like, and why.
This is image A, below:
This is image B, below:
So which photo is better? A or B?
B. The color on A is nice, and you can see the windmills better but a picture needs to tell a story and A doesn’t speak to me at all. If you could process B as an HDR tonemapped then you could probably pull the windmills in just a bit more and it would be perfect!
B, by a country mile. B tells a story. B has movement.
A feels stiff. The lighting on the ground is odd.
A is the more compelling image. Not sure what it says though. As well. A chops the feet, B chops the hands.
-A
Photo B for all the same reasons others have noted. A seems too awkward a pose and poorly lighted.
I prefer b but its really subjective. The emotion and sense of movement makes it more believable as a “story” and that wins it over for me whereas the “a” shot has better exposure it feels contrived and the flash and shadow adds to that but its cool to see the wind mills clearly. The position of the flash also makes an oddly cut-off shadow. A tad too much intent in that shot. Both are beautifully composed. Might want to give her back her hand if “b” is cropped. All in all both are great but B wins as the better picture simply because of the story it tells.