Assistance, composition cropping

[AllisonR]

Hi folks,
I would like to do one of the two landscape scenes below. However, the dog, who is a focal point, is nearly smack in the middle. It really bothers me.
In the long one, I could get rid of a lot of grass on the right, including most of that fun long shadow, but the dog is still somewhat in center. And if I crop off the left, I get rid of some of the interesting scenery. In the close up one, I will get rid of the pot behind the dog's head, but can't figure how to crop further.

How would you crop these?

[wsrea]

Hi, Allison. I'd crop as follows and move the dog so the pillar isn't growing out of his head.



oops--I left the doggie's left front paw behind when I moved him. Ouch.

[loft artist]

Alison
you could try painting 'both' , the dog is quite small in the wide shot , so wouldnt be quite the focal point,
or foregoing the closer up one you could go a little abstract-ish , framed by the porch

Loft

[La_]

couple options to consider ... what's the main coi? think rule of thirds

[sharkbarf]

I'd suggest something close to La's right-bottom crop. I'd keep a little more of the building to the left though, so that it read more "building like".

That way there is positive/negative balance and the dog becomes a COI inside a COI. Also I would keep all but the dog a little less detailed. This way it emphasizes where you want to direct the eye.

Let us know what you decide on.

[ArtWench]

I personally love the first photo composition except for the location of the dog. Ideally, I would move him to the left to have him pop out of the shadows; however, you would need to futz with reality a bit to get an exciting contrast. That being said, the best realistic composition would be to move the dog over the way Bill did (except don't forget his paw!).

[jwcarroll]

Artistic liscense is a wonderful tool. I agree with Bill's cropping and moving the dog over a tad. If you grid your pictures to copy over just grid everything but the dog and then just grid the dog as a seperate object placing it wherever you wish to put him.

[svrart]

Perhaps no longer a landscape, but here is my crop.

[birdhs]

I was thinking along the lines of svrart's crop myself, nice balance perhaps cutting the right side at the the wall where the shadow starts.

if posssible, consider re-shooting the dog, lots and lots of pix.