One year old - 7 in dogs life

[SpiderBob]

Not sure what else I could have done to make this photograph more appealing, any comments.

[allenlennon]

my thoughts is its a bit too much white vigenetting, as well as the yellow flowers that has a "burn" look in the vegenetting. other than that i like it

[kdoc856]

A personal taste situation. I occasionally/frequently like a touch of dark vignetting in a darker image, but I dont think I've ever really appreciated a white vignette- I have preferred just a tighter crop. I can't access the histogram, but suspect you could drop the exposure a bit with good effect. beautiful dog.

[MajaMolly]

'Appealing' is very subjective. If that's the look you were going for, well done. in my mind, you can't go wrong with a beautiful chocolate Doodle like that! The smiles they bring...

[Mike Buckley]

I agree with all of the above posts. Regarding your request for things you could have done to make the image more appealing, you might want to consider how you set up the shot. The dog is placed in bright overhead light that places dark shadows in the eyes. Placing the dog in different light and/or perhaps at a different time of day or using fill flash might have improved the image.

I don't know anything about dogs except to know that that one eats a lot of food.

[Vrgl]

Great dog! I would darken it a bit if possible. Maybe do a tight crop with just the head. I feel the vignette makes it too light for me.

[SpiderBob]

Thank you all, I will try a darker vignette, I did that at first but thought it was too dark. I will also try just the head, that will be interesting. Again, thank you

[SpiderBob]

Tried one without first and decided there was too much work in cloning out all the extra (now in view) items toward the top. The Vignetting really helps that situation and also brings your attention right to Blake. Just not sure about the darkness of it. Perhaps after seeing this you might have a different idea. I still am not quite happy with it and just can't put my finger on it.

[Mike Buckley]

I really like the head shot much, much more. If you are going to use such a dark vignette, which I really don't think is necessary to achieve your goal of concentrating attention on the dog or dealing with distracting background objects, consider making a more gradual transition.

[SpiderBob]

Mike, thank you for your comments. You are right about the vignette perhaps it is not needed, showed my wife, she totally agrees with you. But in comparing the no vignette to the slight, I did like the slight better. Just enough to slightly wash the outside and yes, it does look better to my eye. It's tuff finding that point where it is so slight, you may as well not use it and being too dark. I used the vase in the upper right corner as a goal, not to lose it, but to diminish it from view. Did I succeed, I'm not really sure. But overall, I do like the picture so much better. Again, thanks for your help.

[Muriel]

Looks to me like you got it. Beautiful dog.

[Mike Buckley]

I think your last image would work even for people such as myself who are not especially fond of vignettes. This one is very tastefully done and I believe accomplishes all of your stated goals.

Just one more idea: Consider adding some contrast and perhaps sharpness to the dog's eyes, exactly as you would do when working with a portrait of a person. Indeed, this image is also a portrait.

EDIT: I just noticed that I like the last vignette better than the image with no vignette. You sold me! But don't tell your wife, as we're always better off losing the arguments with our better half.

[SpiderBob]

No problem I tell no one So....sharpened up the eyes in this version.

[Harpo]

Last one works good Bob and the slight dark vingetting is better in my opinion than none because it tones down the clay pot in the right upper corner of the image that I found pulling my eyes over away from the dog.