Dog Portrait

Here's a portrait of my old girl I shot with my Tamron 17-50mm. I'd be grateful for any CC or suggestions on this. I think maybe it's too centered, but I'm not real sure on that. Feel free to edit, crop and post improvements.

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I would have removed the toy, if possible and then maybe included her front leg instead of cropping it off. Otherwise, I really like it - good lighting and perspective, great look on her face. Sometimes, centered is okay, I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm not a fan of the lighting. The perspective is in between "in your face and dynamic" and a "normal" view of a regular portrait. I don't mean to be too harsh, this one jus doesn't do too much for me.

I tried a crop and a flip, lightend the eyes and sharp...Handsome dog, It is a bit soft still..get that focus on the eyes and the rest follow.

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Nice shot!!! Beautiful girl. For me more dog person than photographer I would have cropped to mostly head with a little of the shoulders showing.
She has a georgeous head.

She's a lovely looking shepherd, my 1st ever job was in a GSD kennels so I've a soft spot for them. Like Flo I flipped the image, did a quick clone job on the background and just gave it a Highpass filter, it may be a little too sharp actually!..but you see what can be done with 2mins editing.
I have the same lens as you that I absolutely love, it gives me great sharp images of my english bulldog so keep practicing you have a gorgeous subject!

Flo wrote in post #8770991
I tried a crop and a flip, lightend the eyes and sharp...Handsome dog, It is a bit soft still..get that focus on the eyes and the rest follow.

It must be the compression, because my TIFF version at full size shows the eyes are sharp. I can even see the sky reflected sharply in them. I appreciate everyone's comments. She is a pretty dog, isn't she. Her fur is luxuriously soft. She's 11 years old now, but still very active.

As for the toy, well, she's never without one. I wished the green side of the toy was up, as that would have made a better image I think. But you take what you get when they give it to you with dogs.

gibbit1 wrote in post #8775029
It must be the compression, because my TIFF version at full size shows the eyes are sharp. I can even see the sky reflected sharply in them. I appreciate everyone's comments. She is a pretty dog, isn't she. Her fur is luxuriously soft. She's 11 years old now, but still very active.

As for the toy, well, she's never without one. I wished the green side of the toy was up, as that would have made a better image I think. But you take what you get when they give it to you with dogs.

Then the compression is bad...

I agree, compression sucks. A shame that it's necessary.

I'm curious, though. More than one person flipped the image. Maybe it's because I'm ambidextrous, or because I know what my yard looks like and the reverse is uncomfortable for me, but I see no advantage to this. Why flip the image? I'm not upset or anything, I just want to know the thought process that went into reversing the image. What is it about her looking off to the left as opposed to her looking off the the right?

Guess its just the reach of her neck.no biggie.I tend to flip things to make eye contact better for myself.

I used to use Photobucket for photos.but finally after years of looking at what it does to the photos compression wise.went to Smugmug.and I am thrilled! No compression.just the way I took them.