Pretty dog

[Maldon]

This is a heavily massaged photo I took of a beautiful dog in Alaska. He was just sitting, staring at me like a child would. So I cropped it as best I could, focused heavily on the eyes, blurred the rest. Woddya think?

[Felicia]

I think you're off to a good start. The treatment is making me dizzy, though. I'd also like to see some context. I feel like those beautiful blue eyes are swirling away from me, so the blur isn't working for me so much. Could you show us the original without all of the treatment? I really want to see those blue eyes a lot clearer.

[Maldon]

Here's the original. No processing at all except conversion to an 8bit JPG. Looks a bit different, huh? It was at a Saturday market in Fairbanks, Alaska. What attracted me was the unblinking stare, a touch Satanic, I thought, though really the dog loved everyone and what it wanted was for me to pat it. Which I did, bigtime. Doing the selection of the head was a nightmare. I think there's a picture in there, but I dunno what.
Mal.

[Maldon]

Something went wrong with the upload. Second try.

[Gary Glass]

It's a very striking image. It also makes me feel a little dizzy. Which is not necessarily bad.

I would suggest you leave the dog's body in. As it is the floating head suggest a hunting trophy.

[CatOne]

Ouch. Radial blur?

I can't tell if it makes me think I'm in the Millennium Falcon about to hit warp speed with a dog's head, or if it reminds me of a black light poster that one might put on the wall.

I can't get past the initial "in your face" of a detached, blurred, dog head coming right at me. It's not sufficiently subtle for my taste :dunno

[1220]

ummm, not so much on the blurry floating dog head thingie. I admire your creative attempt here, but for me, just freaky, and maybe thats what you wanted.

I agree the dog has a great stoic expression, but the full shot feels (to me) very snapshot-ish and kinda washed out of detail. my .02

[Maldon]

Yep,the black light poster was what I wanted. I had a friend once who had a suitcause sized skull down the end of a dark corridor. When you turned on the solitary light, te effect was terrifying.
But I didn't do it very well.
It surely was a happy snap, but when I looked there were these penetrating blue eyes, staring straight at me.....

Can anyone suggest what's a better treatment?
Even have a go at it?
Is there a picture in there, or do I just dump it.
Thanks for the help so far.

[Richard]

Can anyone suggest what's a better treatment?
Even have a go at it?
Is there a picture in there, or do I just dump it.
Thanks for the help so far.

I rather like the treatment...it's not your typical doggie shot, which to me is a virtue. I certainly would not dump it. I think you could improve it by lightening the eyes and sharpening them more. I would also try to do something about the bright blue name tag, which is a mood breaker. Clone it out.

Regards,