A temple dog observes Buddha's birthday

The dog's head is dead central, but his back legs shift the photo's

balance. I do not want to crop, one, because his head is centered

and two, i like the color and lines of the wood background.

Suggestions please...

It's not that bad. I like the red background. And, I don't think you can crop it too much more... Maybe a bit less on the left side. -David, Shutterline.com

I think it works well and directs the eye to move around. You could also load the whole thing left but then you loose that great white/red contrast. Yannick www.yannickbeauvalet.com

I agree with Dave. Crop the bottom row of stones.

Cropping can often turn a good shot into a great shot. The contrast between the dog, the rocks and the red boards is compelling. I tried cropping left and bottom and got this result, which I think still conveys the image while adding a little more tension.

Thanks for all the suggestions. i will crop out of bottom half or so of the stones. goes to show that i should try experimenting with cropping on all my shots just to see what i can yield. thanks again.

It's a cropper.

 

Crop it to the width of the dog and from the top of the frame to the middle of the rock below his paws. This leaves in the lines of the wood while solving the other problem.

 

Center position of the eyes can work, but usually doesn't.

I agree that the photo looks best when the bottom stones have been cropped off. I think too often we believe that our subjects must be centered in order to draw the eye to them. However, I have found that in many cases, a subject that is either slightly or even completely off-center works the best.

usually, i do not like dog pics, because they look like snapshot. but this one is very nice(especially the position of the dog and the colors).