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?
I love the detail in A. You can see the sun, the van, the windmill and everything has a dusky feeling to it. Im not a fan of the lighting in A. If it weren’t so harsh, it would be an amazing image. B is too washed out. It does have a more glamorous feeling to it, but you cant make anything out in the background. Both have good and bad qualities, but Ill go with
A
B – Much stronger composition and really like the contrast between the blown out sky vs. the brunette hair and the blue of the van.
B – 100%
A is merely a picture with hardly even 50 words, where B still owns up to a picture is a 1000 words. B has a story and A doesn’t. B evokes an emotion in the viewer, where A just causes you to glimpse and move on. B is dynamic from foreground to background. You can see the whole story. The lighting in A causes a disconnect in the foreground to background.
And the skin tone in A just doesn’t make the main subject look nearly as flattering as the lighting in B.
Personally I like B better because it looks more natural but the better photo depends on the message you need it to say. Without knowing the message or direction of the campaign it’s hard to know which is better.
I love the color and environment in A, but the longer I look at them B just keeps looking better in my eyes.