Max.

[andymartin]

A dog that lives at my compound. he was centered at first but the owner was walking in the background so i used the rule of thirds and cropped the feet out.

[andymartin]

Can i get some critique on this picture please?

[hminx]

Andy the whole image looks a bit soft, this my be due to your method of sizing for web. the tatty grass in the foreground isn't helping either. Max looks as though he is a bit of a character but this shot doesn't bring that out as he doesn't stand out all that well from his surroundings.

[Greg McCary]

With that many mid tones it tough to make a black and white work. It is a little under exposed too. As for the composition, I like that, much better than centering. If you shot RAW it can easily be fixed. If the dogs jacket was red when you do reprocess I would saturate it more than the rest oh the image, slightly, to make the dog stand out. Don't go as far as selective coloring. Black and white really shines if done under really contrasty lightning conditions.
Also it would have been better if the edge of the sidewalk wasn't cutting through the dogs head. Thanks to live view sometimes I hold the camera over my head in situations like this. Use to long ago you had to spray and pray as I heard it called before.

[Neous]

Too much foreground

[gahspidy]

Hey Andy, thanks for posting. I agree with much of what Greg stated so far. The image is very heavy on the gray/midtones making it somewhat flat, and its also underexposed. Bring up the exposure, or levels a bit to get some of the white closer to actual white in the scene.

I do like the framing, its different and interesting but as Greg pointed out the sidewalk cutting through the head is a little distracting and not ideal. Perhaps the foreground is overwhelming, but I like it anyway.
The dogs expression and look at you is good, shows a lot of character.
Overall i think its a fine shot, but just too gray and drab for a b&w in this anyway.