preferences

Here are two contrasting images of similar subjects: one is of a bee on a flower, the other of a flesh fly on a lump of wood.

Both were shot within minutes and feet of each other on a sunny summer day in my back garden.  But while one is an artistic interpretation of a natural scene, the other is a pure documentary study of the creature.

So, which one do you prefer?  And at the end of the day does it really matter?  They're both nice enough shots in their own right.  I prefer the first one of the bee purely for its artistic "merit".  It's just sharp enough to be able to identify the subject, but the softness of it I think helps relay the image of a hazy summer day better than the frankly quite cold shot of the fly.

You might disagree, and that's absolutely the way it should be.  It's all down to subjective preferences.  And that, my friends, makes photography "art"!