Photography Composition

This is my picture for balance. It is not perfect, but I felt like the bright clouds on top balances the heaviness of the mountain below. As far as balance from left to right, I wish the the light clouds were more to the left so that it balanced the mountain on the right. I think that the super dark spot on the bottom left corner does that a little bit, but not enough. If I was a master at photoshop or something similar, I would make the upper left hand corner brighter so that it made the picture more balanced. 

This is my picture for point of view. As I was roaming around my backyard, I noticed these shoots from our oak grove. I was thinking how they looked like little trees and hence the picture. I tried to get the point of view of a bug or even my small dog, seeing these little shoots as trees from their perspective. I tried to accomplish composition by putting the house and, more specifically, the red deck on one of the intersecting lines from the grid. 

Lastly, this is my picture for the subject/background. The man in the video that we watched during class said that if you are taking a picture of a person, you may want to do it up close so that nothing is competing for its attention. That is what I tried to accomplish using my dog. I used a red background so that his white fur did not blend in and he would "pop" out. Also, I did a close up, his body dominating the picture. I have a decorative pillow just to add texture and interest, but not so much that it take the attention away. I really tried to make my dog the spotlight while adding an interesting and enhancing background.