Advice please

[ttimm789]

I took this photo because I loved the light, the composition and both subjects. I took it to hang on the wall. I feel like it is missing something but can't put my finger on it. I'd love any feedback you could give.





I'm sorry about the link- couldn't get the photo to load.

[Saorsa]

I think I would level the image. The angled baseboard just seems distractingly off. I would also crop off a bit on the right to get rid of the pink thing. That would still leave the image of the dog.

Depending on what the leveling did I might take a bit off the bottom as well.

[Geoff F]

Exactly what I was about to say.

But firstly, if you are having trouble uploading have a read of this.

HELP THREAD: How can I post images here?

Regarding your photo. Yes crop the right side which will either mean a different size ratio or probably OK to lose a balancing amount from the top and/or bottom.

There is quite a bit of brightness range there and with a fair bit of the important stuff losing impact amongst darkish midtones. But I fear that messing about with attempting to brighten the midtones may actually lose overall impact.

I suppose you could try a little Local Contrast Enhancement or an Adjustment Layer with the Blend Mode set to Soft Light and a suitable opacity. Maybe Curves with a Luminosity Blend mode?

But be careful of blowing the highlights and introducing excessive noise in the darker tones.

So I would say start with the crop then possibly experiment with other tweaks but only if needed and go gently.

[IzzieK]

+1 to Brian's comment. Also of Geoff's...

[ttimm789]

Thank you very much, I'll give that a try

[Inkanyezi]

The simplest way to enhance the impact and give the image more punch is to move the black point to where the histogram starts at the left side. That action raises contrast considerably, and if one would wish, it gives a bit of headroom for brightening midtones, although I wouldn't.

[Saorsa]

This would be my crop. I leveled it but not completely.

[bnnrcn]

I like the cropped version