"Did we just become best friends?!" CC welcome.

[STiZzle2010]

My wife and I are dog sitting for her mom, and this is the first time that my son has interacted with an animal outside of our cat. It's so cute to watch them play!

CC welcome.

f/3.2, 1/200th, ISO 250, 50mm, flash fired.

JMH_0050 by Hebee's Visions, on Flickr

 

[The_Traveler]

good, a bit too much OOF dog but still good,

 

[STiZzle2010]

I realize now that I should have closed my aperture a bit more. Lesson learned for next time. Thanks for your feedback!

 

[The_Traveler]

This is still a great picture.

I would move the image a bit to use less of the dog and put the infant more in the center.
Then darken the periphery and the dog becomes less important.

 

[STiZzle2010]

I like this a lot more, thank you!!!

 

[The_Traveler]

The first thing the viewer does is try to parse the content to understand what is important.
Bright, prominent, in-focus things draw the eye.
Here the dog is prominent but OOF making the relative importance rather ambiguous.
So manage what the viewer sees and thinks by managing what clues he/she gets from size, prominance, relative lightness.

My three rules:

Put important things in important places
Emphasize things that are positive
Minimize things that detract​

So if we move the perfectly symmetrical baby close to the center (by adding a bit of margin on the right), the baby becomes more important.
Move the dog more to the margin, making him smaller, and darken the margins (and the dog.).
Thus the viewer gets the hint that the dog isn't so important.

 

[STiZzle2010]

Great explanation! Makes sense to me now!

 

[The_Traveler]

It is really important to (attempt to) be objective about one's own pictures.
Try to forgot any personal feelings about the content.
Always be asking yourself 'what hurts this picture' and then try to remediate that.
That's why looking at lots of other people's pictures is so valuable - instant objectivity

This blog post I wrote synopsizes how I go about editing and might be of interest. An Approach to Post Processing.
I don't profess to be an expert but, like a chef can distinguish the lack of a specific ingredient in a dish, I am fairly experienced at isolatng what is deficient in an image.
(I get a lot of experience because I take a lot of pictures with deficiencies. )

 

[FITBMX]

I love the expression, Great job!

 

[STiZzle2010]

Thank you, it sold me as well!

 

[Derrel]

The only issue is that the dog ***is*** important...very important. The dog is what the child is relating to, and the point of view is actually from the dog's point of view, or very close to it. Eliminating too much of the dog's neck removes much of "the presence of the dog", and lessens the idea that the dog is looking at the child; this is a two-party interaction...this is your child's first experience being face-to-face with a dog...that is a huge component of the shot: dog meets boy.

 

[Rob5589]

I agree with Derrel, he is interacting with the pup which is what the picture is about. Derrel's edit looks the best, IMO. Cute pic and handsome little dude!

 

[EIngerson]

Aside from what's already stated. That is such a killer photo. Great capture.

 

[STiZzle2010]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and suggestions!

 

[encom_]

The only issue is that the dog ***is*** important...very important. The dog is what the child is relating to, and the point of view is actually from the dog's point of view, or very close to it. Eliminating too much of the dog's neck removes much of "the presence of the dog", and lessens the idea that the dog is looking at the child; this is a two-party interaction...this is your child's first experience being face-to-face with a dog...that is a huge component of the shot: dog meets boy.

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I agree with Derrels comment. Very nice picture.