@Nathan_Klein and @Dave_Dillemuth: Thanks!
Isn’t it interesting? I also think the color looks more pastel-ey with the borders than without. Now this is a white border… @Doug_Blunt has experimented with different borders and I think it’s worth experimenting, too. To @Ed_McGuirk’s point about “print-like” feeling to the image… I am old fashioned. I love matted prints. But there is also a trend these days to have borderless metallic/acrylic printing. I am not fond of those. Have you guys experimented with that?
Matt, this is interesting. I did a thought experiment with the shooting situation that you’ve just described. The two methods that come to mind immediately for subject/background separation is by using fog/mist and tonality. I instantly think about @Ed_McGuirk’s recent articles where he uses fog so effectively in some of the images there. I leveraged tonality on my other image. But these images were taken with small apertures to retain a big depth of field (at least I think that’s what Ed did, too). You bring up a good question if there is some merit in using a shallower depth of field in these situations. I need to experiment with this in the field but would love to hear other people’s thoughts and experience.