Tony,
thanks for the advice. First of all, I did not want to stop it down. I wanted to see what the OOF background looked like at F1.4.

Secondly, I was in the middle of walking Rowdy for his 3.5 mile workout and was only carrying the camera. No reflector. Just available light.

As for deeper blacks, that's always the struggle between shooting for publication and shooting for the web and I tend to err on the side of flatter and less dense blacks because most of my shots go into the magazine. Your sample is, in fact, a better representation of the black.

As for cropping and background, that's always an individual artistic decision and while I appreciate your opinion, I prefer my choice.

Thanks again,

Jim