A good background can be as simple as a blank canvas that makes your subject stand out, or it can have something to say about the environment, light, or whatever you want really. Usually it should not overpower your main subject. Instead it should play the supporting role.
To my mind a good background is one of the key features that distinguishes a disposable snapshot from something you can be proud of and revisit again and again.

For this challenge you may post up to three of your own photos with your favorite backgrounds. You can post all at once, or one at a time. All photos need to be of garden subjects, flowers, insects, birds, fungi and so on. No humans or pets, please.
Although not mandatory, Including some details on how and why the image was shot is meriting, so is any post processing notes. All pictures must be at least 1000 pixels wide.

The price is mostly fame, but I will distribute 25, 15, and 10 acorns respectively from my personal stash on the top 3 photographers. Only one price per contender. Even if your photo doesn't win, I will highlight all images that I find exceptional, so you will still get noticed.
I will be the sole judge of this little informal contest. As such the contest is not open to me or Joshua, but all others are encouraged to come and play:

UPDATED:
Thanks to Asa's, Charlotte's and Dirt's most generous donations, the new photo prices are:

85 acorns for the winner
55 for second place
36 for third place

Example images:


A plain and simple background. Orange-tip Butterfly on tulip 'Brown Sugar'.
Nikon D300 + Sigma 150 macro, ISO 200, 1/2 s, f/11, Tripod, uncropped



Sunset colors. The gradient in the background sets the mood. Muscari botryoides
Nikon D300 + Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR+ 1.7 TC, ISO 200, 1/30 s, f/4.8, Tripod, uncropped



Bokeh. Backlight bleeding through the canopy in my garden. Iris 'Fuori dal Coro'
Nikon D300 + Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR+ 1.7 TC, ISO 200, 1/13 s s, f/11, Tripod, uncropped

Let the fun begin!

This is a hoverfly on a daylily, with the flower itself providing the background. I changed the flower colour from yellow to cream to increase the contrast with the subject. It is actually produced from four images stacked to give better depth-of-field.

Canon 7Dii, Laowa 100mm lens, 1/6000sec, f6.7, ISO1600.






Magnolia blossom in infrared. The background is blue sky, which is rendered dark in infrared, and I used a polarising filter to darken it further.

Canon 400D converted to 590nm infrared, Tamron 18-250 lens, 1/250sec, f11, ISO1600.

Alan, many thanks for getting this challenge started.
And what a start it is!!!
Some wonderful pictures and very interesting as well as advanced techniques being used.

Just so everyone knows, it is totally okay and in fact even encouraged to make friendly comments on the images posted. Even if you don't want to post an image yourself, you can still say something.
Knowing myself, I certainly have no plans on being silent.

pikaia said:

Magnolia blossom in infrared. The background is blue sky, which is rendered dark in infrared, and I used a polarising filter to darken it further.

Canon 400D converted to 590nm infrared, Tamron 18-250 lens, 1/250sec, f11, ISO1600.

I like the atmosphere of this one. Can't quite put my finger on the word for it, though.

I'm also interested to know how you did the infrared capture. Is it just a specialised filter that fits in front of the lens?

Australis said:

I'm also interested to know how you did the infrared capture. Is it just a specialised filter that fits in front of the lens?

No. The sensor in a digital camera is sensitive to IR, but the manufacturers put a filter in front of it to block the IR because it would interfere with the colour balance and exposure.

For IR photography this filter is replaced with one that transmits IR. Several kinds are available, from those which only transmit IR to those which transmit everything, including UV.

When I upgraded to my present camera I decided to have the old camera converted to IR instead of getting rid of it, so I had it fitted with a filter which transmits visible red and some of the green, besides IR. This is called a Goldie filter, because if you swap the red and blue channels foliage comes out golden yellow, while the sky comes out blue, giving a relatively natural-looking result.

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

I also have a screw-in filter which only transmits IR. This gives monochrome images with a more extreme effect, with white foliage and dark sky, but you cannot see through the viewfinder when it is fitted.

Thanks for explaining that, Alan. Most interesting. Perhaps when I get around to replacing my old point-and-shoot I'll have to see if that's even possible with it (or I can try hacking my oldest smartphone, which now acts as my alarm clock).

I'll play - and I'll also match William's acorn awards to the winner - so consider the prizes doubled.

My submission is different from those so far in that the background's not so much a backdrop, but a part of the meal for the eye, too.


That one worked well full-frame, but it's cropped to a 4:5 ratio for printing. Cannot find the full frame right now.

This one is not my submission for the contest, but more at the same point...the background as part of the art rather than an innocuous backdrop:


And I don't mean, at all, to disparage clean backgrounds. I value them and go for them often. Mostly, I wanted to provide a contrast.

Doubling the prices, that is very generous of you, Asa.
Of course if you win a prize, you will have to send some acorns to yourself.

It is true, a background does not need to be completely clean to work very well. Painterly backgrounds such as your first submission, can help to tell whatever story the image has to say (in this case about the bee in the flower). They put mood and context to the image. Anyway, I have high hopes of being surprised with the submissions in this contest!

Hello! I'll take part in the same thing





Orthetrum brunneum, Amegilla quadrifasciata, Satyrium pruni.
Here is the most ordinary background, made with love for our smaller brothers.

So fun to see you on this forum Valeria.

William said:So fun to see you on this forum Valeria.

I don't have a fancy camera, just a "point and shoot" Canon Power Shot. But I do appreciate the work you all put into photographing nature as moving objects are a challenge to capture. I just love the macros!

Valeria ~ I am not a judge, but you have my vote anyway. I appreciate your skills in photography.

Evelyn, I would love to see contributions from "point and shoot" cameras or smartphones. Some of the best macros I have ever seen wasn't from what you might call a "fancy" camera, but they were truly artistic. When there is time and love invested in a photograph, it usually shows, whatever camera was used. So no one should let their camera stop them from entering this photo challenge.

A smartphone is more limiting when it comes to creating smooth, creamy backgrounds, but out of focus background are not a requirement for this photo challenge. Habitat views can be wonderful. Or you can use artificial backdrops. Or maybe you will create something great in Photoshop. There are no limits, but please keep in mind that exif and post processing notes will give extra points when I judge this. The reason for this is that I want us all to learn from each other. To accomplish that it helps to know some about how the photo was taken.

It has taken me a while to dig up the specific intentionally used background I've used occasionally, so that I could share a simple idea with you; as for the most part I use whatever nature has available. However, below are three examples of photography using a frosted window pane, facing North, natural light, done on a tripod with my Nikon D90 camera. The effects are all different depending on the type of light provided from the outside. Of course no flash is used. On these photos the settings were set on automatic, as the camera has a pretty good synchronization. The backgrounds seem to have picked up the reflections of the greenery on the outside of the house. The first one of the fern was done in winter, with no greenery in bloom on the outside of the glass. The 2nd was on a cloudy day, and the 3rd has reflections of greenery from the outside. Same window, different effects. So a simple frosted window pane can serve as a good backdrop.

I'm liking this lots. Great submissions and wonderful idea, William!

Thank you.

Thank you, Asa
I agree, we have some superb submissions already. Can't wait to see what the next will be!

Fleur, thank you for coming and playing with us. I know how passionate you are about photography. Love the use of the frosted window panes.

evelyninthegarden said:
I don't have a fancy camera, just a "point and shoot" Canon Power Shot. But I do appreciate the work you all put into photographing nature as moving objects are a challenge to capture. I just love the macros!

I have had a Canon Power Shot for many years. This is a wonderful camera with which you could shoot butterflies and flowers equally well. He is a "workhorse", he does everything well))) I am glad that you have the same camera!

Valeria ~

I guess I will have to start taking my camera out to the garden more often, instead of relying on my cellphone in my pocket.

Hmmm....
I'm terrible at exercising any sort of control over the backgrounds, yet I am attempting to be more mindful of them, generally...

here is one that I think is kind of cool because of the color echo of the mini-roses in the background and the shape echo of the second lily

hopin' it achieves some sort of painterly quality with the bokeh...

I wasn't liking the stalks in the back-background, so I tried to take the one out on the left
compare to

Pentax K-1, smc PENTAX-F 70-210mm at 210mm, 1/180 seconds, F 5.60, ISO 280
cropped a bit off the left side and the top, had no more room at the bottom

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.