Red Panda

Attachment 84141
One of my first few shots with my 55-200mm.

Hello and thanks for posting. The subject of the photo is very interesting. I don't know how hard or easy it is to photograph this particular animal, however - it would have been nice if it was caught in full view - especially the tail - but it is still very interesting. The composition is not very strong as much of the photo on the right side of the picture does not add to the subject. The camera seemed to have focused on the branches in the middle of the frame ...which was ok since the panda was in the same general range. For next time, I would suggest zooming in closer (if possible) and trying to fill the frame with the panda and the tail - ignoring the rest of the environment and making sure you are focused on the eyes of the beast :-)

Welcome to the forums, Dman.

I like the composition here in general, and I think that the panda's head peaking out there is a really nice capture. The head may be a bit too bright.. it's borderline. The composition may be too wide though, as the head is small in the frame. There also seems to be a lot going on in the background (and middle ground) that may add just one too many distractions; I can see this but cropping out the top right greenery. Note that the leaves are nice looking, but that they may obfuscate things.

Anyway, post more!

GB

Thanks for all the responses I really appreciate it. How's this? I wasn't sure if the face was too centered.

Attachment 84142

In both cases it looks like the camera has focused on the tree, the panda looks a tad out of focus, this may have been a good time to use the center only focus point or manually focus.

Yeah the focus does seem to be on the tree, but the sharpness of the panda is acceptable I think. It is a bit centered and I think I would extend out the crop a bit to the right, even if that makes the width/height ratio unconventional. Very fun shot of this little creature ..

G