Hi Roger,
I won't get into cliches about children and animals, suffice to say that these two do not look that difficult to photograph.
One thing I will mention though is the old line about “looking down” on people. In photography the angle at which we photograph somebody is important. Usually we try and photograph somebody at eye level, which is why most photographers usually have to go looking for a chair when they need to photograph a basketball player.
If you take a photo looking up at someone it will create the impression that the person is strong, powerful, important or even threatening. Conversely, if we shoot down on someone it creates the impression that they are small, insignificant and even inferior.
If you do have to take a photo looking down on someone try to crop the picture tight. The advantage of this is that it removes many of the visual clues that would show the subject's relationship to the background. Without changing anything a photograph can suddenly look stronger.
Aside from cropping this photograph I have also used the Shadows/Highlights adjustment to bring out some more detail in the dog's face. I have also reduced some of the saturation from the tiles which has taken a small amount of red out of the overall picture.
I think the final result is rather appealing – like that was ever going to be a problem!
Cheers, Anthony
Image Doctor's edited version
