The view

[Dave A]

A view even a dog has to stop and admire.

Although I'm happy with this image for the most part the more I look at it the less I'm happy with it. Not really sure why but I suspect it's because of how busy the background is even though it's needed in the context of the image. I'd love to hear any ideas of how to make it better or maybe it's already as good as it's going to get

Dave

[Geoff F]

Maybe, there is too much of a gap between the man and dog? Which creates two main subjects which aren't connected together.

Possibly too much rather blank looking foreground in the bottom left corner?

[Dave A]

Maybe, there is too much of a gap between the man and dog? Which creates two main subjects which aren't connected together.

Possibly too much rather blank looking foreground in the bottom left corner?

Thanks Geoff, good points.

Dave

[Shadowman]

As both figures are a bit in the shadows you could bring out a bit more detail, you could perhaps darken the background a bit or just crop a third of the cityscape and give the image a bit of a panoramic look. My suggestions won't necessarily make it a better image just give it a different look for you to compare to your original.

[billtils]

I agree with Geoff, which pretty well means it's as good as it's going to get. John is correct on the shadows, but that won't fix the gap.

[dem]

Or crop the man out, just have the dog as the main character.

[Dave A]

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions........all good points. I will try them but agree it's as good as it can be as it is now. I do like Dem's idea of cropping out the man which takes care of the gap problem.

Dave

[Dave A]

Improvement?

[Shadowman]

Improvement?

Tells a totally different story or brings more questions for the composition than the first but yes an improvement.

[Geoff F]

Maybe it now needs a new title. Perhaps something like 'Which way home?'

[DanK]

I think the relative brightness is really the most important issue, not the gap between the person and the dog (although that's an issue too). The eye is drawn to areas that are bright and high in contrast, and that's the background, which as you pointed out, is very busy.

Perhaps it would have worked better if you had used a wide aperture and focused on the person, throwing the background out of focus. maybe not.

[Dave A]

Thank you Geoff and Dan for the comments.

Dave