Bright or dark background


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Luenny

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Sep 5, 2007
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Hi all,
Guess this is a silly question but I'm going to ask it anyway. I see a lot of insect macro shots over here where the background is lit up and the picture appears bright and nice. On the other hand, if you were to go into a forest and shoot, most of the time the background is dark. So, I was just wondering if people prefer light or dark background for insect macro shots? For me I try to shoot according to where it is. If the background is bright enough, then I try to take in the background, but if the place is dark like forest, then I think I prefer the background to look dark as well. Anyone wants to comment?
 

It depends on location... sometimes a dark BG can be a good thing. It helps to mask away distracting elements in the background.
 

It depend on what you want to,
Lighter background using surrounding light will give more natural look.
Dark or Black background will let you subject stand out.

No right or wrong.
 

For me, if i want to catch the ambient light, i set to aperture priority mode and hit the flash. If want a dark background, i set to manual and set a fast shutter speed and small aperture, then hit the flash. :)
 

Hmm ... mine tends to be a bit on the darker side when I shoot in the shade and lighter when I shoot in the sun. I guess unconsiously I tend to set the settings to follow the surrounding. However, sometimes I get comment saying that they are a bit dark or too dark. And sometimes, people say my shot are like night shot with lights on. Hahaha!!
 

Hmm ... mine tends to be a bit on the darker side when I shoot in the shade and lighter when I shoot in the sun. I guess unconsiously I tend to set the settings to follow the surrounding. However, sometimes I get comment saying that they are a bit dark or too dark. And sometimes, people say my shot are like night shot with lights on. Hahaha!!

It also depends on your metering which will also determine your exposure.
 

if you want a brighter background in dark areas, get another flash to light up the background

i prefer light bg, unless i have a rim light on the subject
but still not totally black
 

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