What can I improve on?

After your comments and suggestions, here is the original

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/57482477@N08/6​206161710/

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What did you shoot this with?

man that is close. Might be personal taste, but I'd be more into it if his muzzle was in focus too. But very cute regardless.

Nice idea. I think you'd be better off with a narrower aperture so that the whole face is in focus. Secondly, the overhead light puts the eyes in shadow. If you could get them brightened up a bit by changing the angle of light, you'd have a winner.

agree angle of light and aperture
also agree cute subject

Good points. I also wished the whole face was in focus, but obviously only realized it afterwards. Still likes the photo though.

I shot this with a 450d with a 50mm 1.8 (shot this at 2.2 I think) and a yongnuo 565 flash pointed at the ceiling.

More DoF would be better to get the entire face in focus. Could be a bit brighter too.

I'll try it again with more dof.

Also, what could I do to brighten the eyes? Just set the flash stronger? Or will that just create more shadowing because I am pointing the flash at the ceiling?

i think it would be nice to see also the far eye. i also kind of like the hairs, it gives it some "raw" look, but i think seeing both eyes would add to the photo!

Clearly personal preference.

I love the mood of the photo. We can almost feel that there are some important thoughts going through his head!

Good call. I think the eyes would make it nice as well. I just really liked the position he was in for the photo. I'll give it another go tonight. Hopefully he co-operates!

Great colour, nice bokeh, good composition.
Like the way his right ear is slightly further forward so we can see the shape of it.
I like the little bit of reflection at the bottom as well, looks like he's lying on top of a piano.

As others have said, just needs a bit more light on the eyes. You could probably improve that in ACR just by using the fill light slider.

I will give that a shot too. I just don't like using the fill light slider too much usually. I could always open it as a smart object and then use the paint brush on the eyes only....

Duhh..Why didn't I think of that.

Max Powers wrote in post #13217054
I will give that a shot too. I just don't like using the fill light slider too much usually. I could always open it as a smart object and then use the paint brush on the eyes only....

Duhh..Why didn't I think of that.

It depends on the image obviously but I find that when shooting in RAW you can improve the fill light a fair bit before it starts to look odd or noisy.

Yeah its not too bad. Does a good job really, but I guess I prefer photos without it.

Just had a quick go with the 'quick selection tool' and then lighten shadows.
I've only brightened one eye and left the rest of the image alone.

Obviously I could only do this with a very low-res jpeg but with the original RAW file you'd get better results:

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