[thorirbe]

I would apreciate your opinions on these two pictures. Which is the better one and why?

Thanks

[wilson44512]

well mmmm lets see? they both looked compressed. and one looks a little lighter to me. besides that they look the same

[thorirbe]

I know they are similar. That´s why I need other opinions .

[Danyo]

I agree with Wilson, the picture on the left..the sky is lighter blue...while the picture on the right...the sky is a darker blue

[Blackmirror]

I like the first one better but i cant tell you why lol i just do

[buck52]

why other opinions?

which one do you like best?

[Danyo]

the picture on the right second picture..

the first picture not much contrast, sky and water almost the same color..kind of washed out

second picture more contrast between the sky and the water..

[mawood1231]

I like the second one better.

[thorirbe]

Thanks guys. The reason for my asking is that I have been editing this picture I took so that the contrasts will be stronger. I know they are very alike and I know the difference. Maybe my question should have been: which picture looks better?

Personally I like the one on the right because of stronger contrasts .

[pedroguy]

I also like the one on the right(second picture).As noted before,the sky seems to be bluer,but also for me the background,green bank and mountains in the distance appear to my old eyes to be clearer and more detailed.

[thorirbe]

I have increased the saturation on the pic on the right (sky, mountains, water) to get more contrast.

[Ron the Geek]

We all have different monitors set up differently. It's difficult to evaluate the quality of a digital photograph unless it's viewed on a monitor that's been calibrated to the output device it is intended for. Is this image going to be for on-screen display? Laser or inkjet printed? Offset press? It's purpose will determine proper methods to fine tune the image and to what extent it's even necessary.

[Ron the Geek]

Oh, yeah... by the way... For on-screen viewing, as we are all doing now, either photograph is fine; good contrast, detail, sharp image. There's a slightly wider color range in the second photo, but again, with all types of different monitors—some flat panel, some CRT with different adapters and settings—it really makes no difference here. For web photos, you want smaller file size while maintaing quality; for offset press, highest possible quality is necessary and those files can be huge—not good for mapping quickly over the internet.

[bp936]

question to Wilson, how can you tell the picture is compressed? Info in Irfanview shows both exactly the same numbers in everything. Doesn\t compression depend on at what setting the camera was put on?
I like the stronger colors on the right.

[thorirbe]

Well, both pics were taken in jpg format and I shrinked the files before posting them. Do you think I should always use the raw format when trying to take good pictures like this one or doesn´t it matter?