My Best Friend

[Ziggy]

Laci.

[mknittle]

Nice looking dog Jim, the background works nicely.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured and good looking pup.

[bnnrcn]

Beautiful

[Ndukes]

Nice one Jim. I bet the sentiment is mutual.

[rpcrowe]

Jim, this is a great capture. Often a background like this is too busy but, this one works super with your handsome dog!

[NorthernFocus]

Nicely done.

[Ziggy]

Thanks from Laci all. Taken on Laci's 12th birthday last weekend. (We don't know the exact date but I think we are within 2-3 weeks.)

[Mike Buckley]

Fabulous pose and background! Consider increasing the mid-tone contrast a bit being sure not to lose any detail in the dark tones of Laci. Also consider adding some Local Contrast Enhancement to Laci.

[Adzman808]

I'm on the 'great pose and background' side!

IMO it would be easy for Laci to blend into the background a bit (as -to my eye- many of colours on the dog and in the back ground are within the same range) but the image pops perfectly,

The black parts; nose, back fur are perfectly placed to show contrast to the background.

I can see why you've been advised to lift Laci a bit, but I love dark pictures, so you won't get that advice from me (not that it's a dark picture, but -hopefully- you see my point?)

[IzzieK]

I've always known you for Mr. Grumpy...and deers...very nice shot of Laci. What breed is it? I only know of Rottweilers because I love them..and a few others...

[Sam W]

Very excellent photo Jim, congrats! I agree with Mike's suggestions.

[Ziggy]

Thanks Mike, Adam, Izzie and Sam, your feedback is appreciated. Please edit my images at any time to show how you would improve the image. I think seeing it would be a big benefit to me.

I've always known you for Mr. Grumpy...and deers...very nice shot of Laci. What breed is it? I only know of Rottweilers because I love them..and a few others...

She is just a beautiful mix Izzie. Laci traveled about 120 miles on the rescue highway to make it to us.

[Mike Buckley]

I adjusted the white point, increased the mid-tone contrast and added a subtle vignette. I also applied a small amount of Local Contrast Enhancement (LCE) only to Laci. However, I'm used to working with LCE in combination with making basic sharpening settings. Considering that those settings were already baked into the image, I wasn't as successful as if I had been working with the original image before any sharpening had been applied.

View the image in the Lytebox and toggle back and forth between the two images to get an idea of which direction you prefer.

This is such a nice image that if it was mine I would probably take the time to eliminate the Christmas lights.

[Ziggy]

Thanks Mike for taking the time to edit the image.

Looking at both I don't see a big difference in the two. In my limited knowledge I could increase levels and get closer to what you have done. I bet if you had the original image the result would be special.

Again thanks.

[Mike Buckley]

I don't see a big difference in the two.

That's because your image is very nice; the changes I made are somewhat subtle though immediately noticeable at least to my eye.