Squirrel: Late lunch or early dinner

[gbmax]

No specific questions, just C&C:




Olympus E-520, ZD70-300mm,
1/800
ISO200
F5.0
@ 202mm

[Chip]

Very cute pose and good moment captured.

To me, the whole photo is underexposed. With a bright sky as a background and if you used evaluative metering, a subject in the shade like this will just about always be too dark . . . unless you either spot meter or bump up the exposure compensation. Can you lighten it a bit in post?

Also, it appears the the focus point is on the squirrel's back end and that, as a result, the eyes are a bit soft? If so, trying to place the focus point directly over the eyes helps. And with a mainly solid background like this, you don't have to worry as much about blurring it out - so, ƒ8 or so would've given a bit more DOF while still keeping the background blurred.

My 2 cents.

[Visions]

I love the picture, nicely balance image - but I had a surprise when I noticed the shutter speed that was used. The Squirrel looks as if it wouldn't move unless you pushed it so why not take advantage and experiment with different shutter speeds and aperture settings using the LCD screen and the histogram to show which works and which don't? When you have a digital camera and a willing subject like this, take advantage!
This image can be saved if you have an editing program. Raise the midtones. You can do this in Photoshop using Levels or Curves or even in Picasa. Dont over-do it or you will blow out the sky and the sky is great.
I look forward to seeing more of your pictures. I am sure they will be good.
AJ