B&W dog

[mosca]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/Mosca/b759d686-1-1.jpg?t=1272983723

[Kaye]

Nice shot of your dog mosca.
I am not very knowledgeable about B&W, but as far as composition, I would love to see a cropped version of this.

[mosca]

I understand. The way the lines all work is part of what I see, including the table. The dog is "soft" in the middle of "hard". It is both lines and contrast.

[eyerkish]

Cool looking dog!

[coffee]

It's a neat picture. I like what you did with the black and white. I don't know if you have any more frames of "B&W dog", but I think a shot more on his level taken of his reflection in the glass would be cool too. Or of him looking at himself.

I didn't understand the reason for the table at first, you explained why and it's understood, the average view may realize that contrast, probably not though. Even if the table wasn't in the frame, you will still clearly accomplish your contrast with the amount of hard lines left. I also think the table is to dominant in the frame, takes too much focus from the main subject, and doesn't add anything to the story. One thing I can say for the table is that it helps bring some balance to the image. I cropped the table out and it just looked a little tippy.

I had a hunch that the highlights level was off a little in your B&W conversion so I plugged the image in PS and check, and it was confirmed. There is no true highlights in the image, meaning it was a little underexposed.

One thing I would suggest, and I'm not sure of your shooting style, so you may well have done this, but when shooting candid portraits, move yourself around some. Get down on his level, check the glass for an interesting reflection, maybe take some shots that go through the table in question to help frame the subject, get on the floor and get a upwards angled shot of him (a little difficult maybe :)) But the idea is that you get different interesting angles of him.

I like the overall laid back Sunday afternoon feel to the shot. This is just one guys opinion. The beauty of photography is everyone see's something different.

[mosca]

Thank you, Joseph. Actually there are a couple things I was thinking when I snapped the shot. There is a little bit of a photographic/dog "joke" going on; the shot is supposed to be a reminder of those shots of people in weathered doorways with blank looks on their faces, but with a dog. She was just sitting there, with a blank look, and I need to replace that molding, it looks awful. I took a few different shots, and then she moved. I have a hard time taking a picture of my dog. If I pick up a camera and look at her, she comes over, because she always goes with me on my photo shoots.

The shot has a flat look because I took it with a Motorola Droid and processed it with Photoshop.com Mobile. I wanted to see how much I could do with really limited equipment, using composition only. Sort of like a Holga thing, but digital. I honestly don't think there is much potential there for someone with average skills. A photographer has to have real artistic vision to make the limitations into advantages, and I'm just a GWAC (guy-with-a-camera). I would never go on a real shoot with a cell phone camera.