Greetings from the Critique Club. My critiques are generally geared towards trying to help you improve your score within DPC, and not on any true "artistic" merit of the photograph itself, unless it relates to DPC voters and scoring. Please keep that in mind as you read this.
Initial Thoughts
Definitely simple, but I think you have to be a dog lover...
Composition/Content
Compositionally, this could have been a lot better. Generally, shots with the subject in the middle of the frame, in a no-nonsense simplistic, flat approach, tend to do quite poorly. DPCers *love* people that bend the bar and try and find new approaches, angles, viewpoints, etc.. without going *too* overboard.. but you definitely need to find something a little more pleasing and dynamic. Some examples:
Getting down on your stomach and finding the dog's level. Use DOF to your advantage.
From above more. Get a step ladder and lean over. Try and find some creative way to show a view that most seldom see.
Tilt the camera - Again, try and use DOF to your advantage and make the shot less flat.
Just a few examples where a touch of creative thinking can go a long way. Sometimes simple is good, but it should be simple and *creative*.
Background
The color is pleasing, and you can really feel the texture.. it *wants* to work, but because of the flatness of the photo, it just doesn't.
Camera Work/Technical
Your settings tell me that you probably, more or less, just saw the subject, grabbed the camera, and took a photo on the spot. (Using a smaller aperature to get everything in focus.). Not a bad idea sometimes, but as I mentioned above, you really want to put the tools you have at your disposal to work. Remember.. creative. Play around. Get different. As far as technicals go though, I really have nothing to say. Nothing is glaringly wrong, except for maybe a slight over-exposure, but since you auto-leveled, that might not have been in-camera.
Digital Processing
Some things:
- You're lacking a little bit of sharpness. You might want to play around with USM (unsharp mask) to boost this a touch more on future entries.
- For me, this is a little over-exposed. I think you were a little bit too strong on the brightness and contrast sliders, as you should really never go above a +9 or +10 if you have a good exposure from your camera. You've clipped a little bit of the highlights here, which detract some from the over-all photo.
Other than that, everything looks good for what you've done. One hint.. if a photo seems a little flat, one thing to do if boosting contrast is clipping your whites, is to use "Selective Color" and give the black slider in the Black channel a bit of a boost (generally +2 - +5). This will keep your highlights even, but give you the dark boost that can bring out a shot from being a little too flat. Of course, if the shot is flat-ish because of angle and composition.. not much post-processing will save it.
Fits the Challenge
This is where this photo shines, as it really *is* a simple pleasure. A nap in a comfortable place.. oblivious to life. Yah.. that's bliss.
Had you captured that mood in a more creative way, we'd be talking a much, much higher score.
My Opinion of the Photo
While a strong connection to the challenge, it fails to really speak to the viewer (beyond a few people that have a strong connection to cute things). It's presented in a very flat and uninspiring manner, and my first instinct is to click "next".
Keep working on finding new ways to shoot.. on creativity, and I can guarantee that you'll see your scores start to rise. The main thing here is to have fun, and learn as you go. Good luck on future challenges.
in my opinion the composition is a bit boring ... to me, a better perspective would have been down at his level ... cute puppy though, he seems peaceful
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