Thank you for starting this thread, William. It's an interesting subject, and the posts are informative. I was persuaded to go back and look through my photo files while paying close attention to "Backgrounds". The conclusion I came to is that I don't really have any! Because my personal goal is to highlight a flower or butterfly or a bug, backgrounds usually get intentionally obscured with an F-stop of 5.6. I'm not unaware of what's behind a subject and try hard to get an uncluttered angle, but the added benefit of a good background is simply a happy accident. For that reason, I feel woefully unqualified to participate in this contest. However, I look forward to learning from others that share their information here.
To prove my point, here are a couple of today's Iceland Poppies.
See? No backgrounds.
However, this is an example of what I consider to be a happy accident.
And occasionally the background can provide a clue about habitat, so I don't blur it.
But sometimes just basic black works for me.
There are so many incredibly talented photographers on this forum, and seeing their work is a pleasure. I look forward to viewing many more.
Meanwhile, I'll pay more attention to backgrounds in the future.
