Quizzical

I love this shot, as I've been wanting to capture my dog with her head

cocked like this for a long time. But I hate the background. Does

anyone have any advice on how to handle that? I was thinking maybe a

fade to black around her, but I would love to hear some better ideas.

Thanks in advance!

I'm afraid nothing can be done with the background, it's too dark, but the picture doesn't look bad because of it! It's your dog and next time choose the background better, ha! That's my advice Paul!

Best regards!

PDE

Hi Doug,

I think fading to black would improve the photo very much. It would not be too hard either with the gold to black shades in the carpet. Very nice capture.

Nancy Gail

First, what a wonderful portrait!  It grabbed me right from the thumbnail, and is a beautiful shot in so many respects, just as it is.  I absolutely love the pose, expression, lighting, and color; they all contribute to a sort of old-world painterly feel that is very special. 

Second, I disagree that there is nothing to be done about the background!  I quite like the background as it is, save for the distracting bright reflections.  The darkly lit scene fits very well with the idea I mentioned earlier, about this looking like an Old-World oil painting.  The background adds some subtle visual interest and depth to the image, as well as context (in that vein, I very much like the rope chew toy we can see hiding back there!).  I tend to prefer environmental portraits to those that are too clinical; the environmental ones are much harder to pull off I think, but are more rewarding when they succeed.

I took the liberty of playing with your image--just some quick and dirty changes that didn't take overly long.  If you want to work on your larger, original file, I could give you more details about what I did in case you want to try any of these things yourself.    The first iteration simply removed the distracting reflective bits.  I think this one is my favorite version, since I happen to like the background for the reasons I stated.  The next 2 iterations just darkened the background a little further, and the 4th and last iteration involved some cloning out of the chair legs and taking the background to full black. 

I don't know if any of these versions are what you had in mind, but thanks for letting me play with your image!  I think it's a beautiful portrait of a beautiful dog.  :-)

http://spector.smugmug.com/photos/i-RpxgPXf/0/S/i-RpxgPXf-S.jpg 

http://spector.smugmug.com/photos/i-r2vBHhg/0/S/i-r2vBHhg-S.jpg

http://spector.smugmug.com/photos/i-scx7KVf/0/S/i-scx7KVf-S.jpg

http://spector.smugmug.com/photos/i-57R54hg/0/S/i-57R54hg-S.jpg

P.S.  If you want to see larger versions, try the following link, where you can view the different images as small, medium, large and original.  The images are in an unlisted (not publicly visible) folder but I think the link will get you in directly; let me know if you want me to remove the images for any reason.

http://spector.smugmug.com/Other/Photo-Revisions/1642552_rcrJ5D

Elisabeth

I do really like your image, Paul.  There are some good suggestions from other photographers.  Great to see this feedback as I think often that some contributors miss out by not asking help in a fairly specific way like you did. 

My humble opinion for your image is that the most important thing is to take out the light behind the left ear as it is distracting.

Kindest regards

Jim

Wow. Thank you all so much for your advice!

Pierre - Yeah, I usually pay attention to what's behind her when I take photos of her, but in this case I actually wasn't trying to take any photos for keeps. I was just experimenting with exposure and aperture so I could learn how to get good photos in that kind of lighting. But I ended up with this shot, and wanted to try to make it work.

Elisabeth - I'm having trouble deciding which of your fixes I like best! I like the simplicity of the last one with all black, but I also agree with you about environmental shots. I'm just not so sure I like this particular environment, although you did improve it greatly (enough so that I'm considering keeping it, if I can make it look as good as you did). If I had planned this shot, I would have taken it in a better place. I really appreciate you and Nancy taking the time to work with the photo. Looks like I'll be able to save it after all! I just have to decide which of your versions I want to emulate.

Again, I really appreciate everyone taking the time to help me out with this! I'm just getting into photography, and it's great to be able to soak up knowledge from more experienced photographers than myself. Best wishes to all!

Paul

You're getting a lot of attention on this shot because it's a classic shot!  Keep taking pics of your dog, too, not just to improve your skills.  Take pictures later in life as well.  Our dogs are so awesome, their time with us short.  The photos help us remember...

Gotta agree with Donn. Keep shooting!

Regards, John

Thank you Donn and John. I definitely have no shortage of photos of my baby girl! She's my little supermodel. She's only two, so by the time she is gone I hope to capture every one of her many expressions.

Okay, I went with the simplest fix, which was taking out the reflections. You sold me on it, Elisabeth! Thanks again!

I hope I didn't twist your arm, LOL, but I'm glad you kept the background and (more importantly) I'm glad that you have an image you are satisfied with now.   (I'd be quite happy if it were mine!)  I have a feeling that this dog will inspire many more wonderful pictures over the years.  :-)