My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by GoldBerry:
Cute dog but this shot is too soft, as in a little out of focus.

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by gjumi:
4 the focus, the sky, the composition...are wrong.

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by bmartuch:
The focus is a bit soft on this shot..

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by Chinarosepetal:
I would have preferred some focus

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by bassbone:
that is one pretty pup - but the focus is too soft on the dog

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by faery:
She's beautiful...but not in focus unfortunately :-(

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by kletkeman:
Blurry

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by Brielle:
Cute puppy, but this image is very unfocused.

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by saiphfire:
Awww, looks just like my dog Bryher when I got him! Now he's 2 1/2. See him here: www.dogster.com/?67522 (he's also featured in many of my portfolio pictures).

As for technical comments - the picture is a bit out of focus, the background is distracting, and there are a few color problems. I'd lighten shadows, darken highlights, and increase both midtone and overall contrast. Then turn down the saturation a bit (you might even desat the magenta channel completely). The background isn't great - I personally often like backgrounds in shots to give them context, but by and large the DPC voters don't (I've been bashed many a time) so it might be better to take a lower angle and get only the sky behind the dog or put the dog in front of something more neutral (like a wall). Even though I like stuff in the background, this one is problematic because it's so much brighter than the dog that it steals attention - you might want to burn it to make it less noticable, or apply a blur effect to it (but select out the dog first so the dog doesn't get more blurred). Then the photo needs some sharpening - it would probably be most effective to sharpen just the face and chest, but USM over the whole thing would be okay, too. In the future, this type of picture would work best when the dog is looking at the light rather than backlit because you lose his/her features (you could also use a reflector, but if your dog is like mine, who has time to set one up when the dog's running all over).

My Beautiful Belle
by TheStick

Comment by pamelasue:
OOF ... blown highlights in the sky are distracting ...