There is a lot to be said for dark backgrounds. When the background is significantly darker than the subject, all of the attention goes exactly where you want it -- on the subject itself. I photographed this tuft of grass on a dune in Namibia, and the early morning sun was coming from the left side. The dunes in the background were in shadow, and that four f/stop difference made this picture work so nicely. I exposed for the highlights, and thanks to the limitations of dynamic range in a digital sensor (it's nice that, for once, this limitation worked to my advange) the background became darker than it was to my eyes as I stood there looking at the scene. That contrast made the grasses really pop. My settings were 1/320, f/10, 320 ISO, and I used a 24-105mm set to 105.
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