I love this photo .................but what could i have done to make it better......

[Photo Lady]

 

[amolitor]

Mild curves adjustment to bring the highlights up, the midtones up a bit less. Mildly applied unsharp mask to the dog's face, to make it pop a little. Slight crop to push the dog out of the middle.



Better? Worse? I like it better, anyways. Nice picture, though!

 

[Overread20]

*thread moved to the general gallery - please remember the Beginners section is not a gallery and that photos for critique go into the galleries (with the exception of just for fun gallery)*


A good exposure considering all the white present; you've retained the detail in the dog which can often get blown out with such a white subject. You should check the histogram as you might be able to brighten the shot just a little because an all white scene is typically underexposed by the camera meter and there might be more room to brighten things up without clipping the far right side of the histogram (ergo overexposing).
You might also find that adding a little more brightness just to the face of the dog around the nose, head, ears and eyes (ergo the coloured parts) that you might well just help bring that area up a little more; making it brighter to help draw the viewers eye there. You only want it subtle though not as a glaring patch of brightness.

Frame wise you've clipped a little off the legs/base of the chest hair along the bottom. With the long fur of this dog its not as much a problem as if the legs were exposed and then clipped as the hair simply falls down without much break although it would have been better to have captured the whole dog.

You might also have considered portrait aspect for this shot - you've the wintery surroundings however the dog itself is very upright and the scene isn't really presenting much in the surroundings to justify having them present. If there were a bit more detail or interest to the left of the dog (in the sky) you could have gone for a landscape aspect with the dog on the right and balanced by the sky just seen through the trees on the left (like amolitor''s crop is showing above)

 

[Photo Lady]

thanks so much for help..... I will look into trying these little tips with this photo and then try to duplicate as best I can with a new shot.........

 

[robbins.photo]

Stop down the lens a bit perhaps, so that the background elements are a little more in focus since there really isn't enough seperation from the background nor do I think that would be as desirable in this instance. If you can recrop it either so we can see the dogs feet or if not then crop it closer so you have more emphasis on the face and the fact that the feet are just slightly out of frame won't be so noticeable. Also during the recrop try moving the dog out of center frame and off to either the left or right a bit, in this case I'd probably go left since the trees in the foreground to the left will most likely be too distracting once they fill a little more of the frame.

 

[Photo Lady]

Mild curves adjustment to bring the highlights up, the midtones up a bit less. Mildly applied unsharp mask to the dog's face, to make it pop a little. Slight crop to push the dog out of the middle.

View attachment 62032

Better? Worse? I like it better, anyways. Nice picture, though!

I like it a lot.. thanks

 

[Photo Lady]

Stop down the lens a bit perhaps, so that the background elements are a little more in focus since there really isn't enough seperation from the background nor do I think that would be as desirable in this instance. If you can recrop it either so we can see the dogs feet or if not then crop it closer so you have more emphasis on the face and the fact that the feet are just slightly out of frame won't be so noticeable. Also during the recrop try moving the dog out of center frame and off to either the left or right a bit, in this case I'd probably go left since the trees in the foreground to the left will most likely be too distracting once they fill a little more of the frame.

the feet were hidden beneath the foot of snow.. so getting feet was not a possibility.. I think a recroup would help though

 

[Amy1706]

I am new here but I wanted to say I think your dog is beautiful and you did great getting the catch lights in it eyes I love the picture.

 

[Photo Lady]

I am new here but I wanted to say I think your dog is beautiful and you did great getting the catch lights in it eyes I love the picture.

thanks so much... and welcome to the photo forum.