Ya the lighting is what it is. If you get to a show to compete and the lighting sucks, you're all competing under the same lights so its the same for everyone in the show. Its so hard to look at pics from years past and compare the guys on stage to a show from recently as thats simply a split second snapshot in time. When you see 5 guys posing down on stage in person, or watching a video (obviously in person is much better) but you get such a better idea of how the muscles are unfolding and opening up(popping) when they pose. This is what impressed me most about seeing guys in the 90's and early 00's, seeing the muscle in each pose take shape as they moved into the pose and actually flexed their muscles. Seems like guys today, don't even really need to 'flex' that hard in their poses? except for maybe the quads/hams, the upper body of these guys are so full/dense there is no change when they are setting up into the pose, as opposed to actually hitting/holding the pose..
Ya the big abdomens of today are the norm. Its like your praised for not having a gut now, or at least being able to control it while you pose. As opposed to years ago, there was just no such thing as a 'growth gut'?.
I prefer the physiques from 20 years ago, but I'll be damned if I'm not stopped dead in my tracks every time I see a new mass freak step on stage that changes the game, it never ceases to impress me!