Keeping warm

[Steve Large]

Hi Everyone,
Hope you are having a great weekend. Normally I spend most of my time on the avian part of the the forum but this time I thought that I would take a bit of a break and enter an animal portrait. Here is a picture of a racoon that I photographed down at the local marsh. He was taking advantage of the warmth of an old hollowed out oak tree a few feet off of the pathway.

Canon 50D, 500mm with 1.4X, 1/500 sec at F/5.6

Thanks for your comments,

Steve

[Stuart Frohm]

In my humble opinion, very nicely captured. I admire the composition, the catchlight in the animal's eyes, and the simple background.
I look forward to seeing your other photos at this website.
All best, and most respectfully,
Stu

[Steve Canuel]

Great catch and nicely composed. I like the transition of colors in the BG. I think a little selective contrast on the eyes might give them a little more pop.

[Steve Large]

Stu and Steve,
Thank you very much for your compliments on this photo. Steve, I will give your suggestion about the contrast a try. Kind of lucked out on this guy as you don't see this kind of thing around here that often.

Thanks again,

Steve

[Robert Amoruso]

Steve,

I do like the composition and the details in the tree and clean BG make for a pleasing image of the Racoon. He looks a bit soft so I would sharpen it some more. Also try a reverse s-curve to lower contrast (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434). The suggestion about the eyes is a good one.

[DanWalters]

Nice shot. I like the eye contact and the unique perspective.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Steve,
I like the composition. Another vote for sharpening. I like the bg.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Steve Large]

Hi Everyone,
Thank you once again for all of your constructive comments. Here is the repost with some added USM. Still couldn't do much with the eyes as they are so black that even in bright sunlight it was hard to get any detail.

Steve

[Ted Willcox]

Great image steve. Well done
Ted

[Ted Willcox]

I should have mentioned select your whites out before you make a contrast adjustment on the rest of the image, that will keep them from blowing out,like they did in your repost.
Ted

[Mike Lentz]

Repost is much better, good job!