JRT in the Sun

This is Bandit.. a Jack Russel Terrier Pup (about 8 months old) on our flyball team. Well, he's in training for the flyball team.

I took this in Las Vegas at a seminar we went to. With my Olympus e-300, 40-150mm lens... exposure is 1/500 sec at f 4.5.

I would love input and any modifications to make it look nicer!
Thanks. :)

I don't think you can make this image much better-it is really quite nice. Nicely exposed, a nice out of focus background and the focus is pretty good (although the dog doesn't seem super sharp on my monitor).

However, and seeing as how this is a critique forum and all.......I think there is too much empty frame space above the dogs head, if you like the size of the dog in the frame I would like to see a little more of the dogs body and less empty space above him. Perhaps also reduce the space behind the head and increase the space in front of the dog although this doesn't seem as important as getting rid of the empty frame space above the dog.

I think it's a great shot. Maybe more depth of field so to show his entire head in focus, but I also like the background blur. I might also have aimed downward a little to show more of his neck. The exposure is perfect.

Gb

Beautiful shot. I agree with MB and GB on the composition: the head is too centered. Bringing the camera down a bit would have shown more neck at the bottom and less background. I really like the way the light (top/back) falls on the right side of the dog's face. This makes the shot very 3-dimensional - you really feel the depth and the texture. Also great blur - makes the subject really pop out. Congratulations. (Cute dog by the way.)

I like the focus on the eye, this is a portrait after all and the eyes are important.

What I spot immediately is the background.
It's nicely blurred, but that yellow blur just behind the head and the person on the left don't belong in a portrait to me.

A little more DoF to focus the whole of the head, both ears, would be good.
But not if it brings the background into sharp focus.