Comment from bpellephoto
Your camera settings bring this take to life.

The color range and lighting of the take are well balanced and contribute nicely to the overall eye appeal of your composition.

DOF is excellent for the subject matter. There is strong detail across the entire image.

The framing of this composition is not cluttered and speaks well of the subject matter.

Thanks for sharing ... B-)) Bob

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks a lot bob for your nice comments

Comment from catmal
very very nice bet it was nice to get close to one of these as they are rare,,great photo doing his usual comical daily stuff beautiful image and a beautiful animal

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks again

Comment from oldgunny
Great shot as usual. The color, contrast and sharpness are great. The bokeh is perfect for the shot. I bet this would make a great black and white photo with a white matt.

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks a lot for your nice comments

Comment from wrcphoto
A good picture of the Panda , good details in the white fur , good coloring , I would have liked it better without the wood pole behind it's head and if you could have got a little light in the eye to help separate it from the black fur around it .

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks;
I tried to tell him to go more on the right and look at me but unfortunately I don't speak Chinese and despite being in France for already 5 years, he doesn't understand French;

Comment from nikman
Yes, it does look like a tricky scene to capture, but I believe you have met it pretty well! From your notes I am guessing that it's not eating bamboo. Sharpness and exposure are good, nicely taken!

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks a lot nik

Comment from Zilyram
Excellent photograph of the big panda. Great handling of exposure and lighting is good. Focus very good with nice dof. Well done Fred and I have run out of things to say but new rule insist on 150 characters so annoying Then when I edit it says to select rating and it only allows me to pick 6 which is fine it is worth 6 but originally I put 5 now I am rambling and getting annoyed knowing there is a reason why I haven't been on this site for some time ..... :)

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks a lot mary for your kind comments and top rating

Comment from El-mundo
I was going to say this is a trick question and it's practicing it's flute!! haha. Lovely close up shot of this beautiful panda chewing away at its staple food the bamboo, captured with great clarity showing the wonderful fluffy black and white fur in great detail, with good DOF and the background contrasting well to help the subject stand out more prominently. Great shot!

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks a lot: I'll keep your title idea for another pic

Comment from Susan F. M. T.
fred,
A beautiful picture of this Giant Panda enjoying a NEW stick of Bamboo! beautiful composition, framing & perfect lighting & white /black balance. Taken with superb camera techniques & sharp focus.
Susan

 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

merci beaucoup pour les six*

Comment from Neilnap773
Panda bears are such wonderful animals and there have been some recent videos on line of them at play getting themselves into all sorts of predicaments and positions...You have captured this one in obviously a lot more of relaxed pose eating his bamboo shoots.nice detailed focusing with excellent structure to the presentation

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 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks a lot neil

Comment from DDelaplain
Nice close up of the Panda. Nice control on the depth of field to keep the attention on the Panda. The Panda and the stalk are in focus, as well as his eyes which is a must.
Wondering if this was taken with a digital camera or if its a print that was scanned into a digital image because I see two white hairs on the black fur just right of center and a little low. These don't look like something on the lens or camera image sensors in a digital camera. They look like something on a print. It really doesn't matter weather it's a scanned print or a from a digital camera, but they should be taken care of. Cloning out with software would be easy. More importantly I would clone out the little white speck on the panda's paw. It keeps drawing the viewer's eye to it. Also in the top left corner there was something not wanted there and it looks like a cut and paste cover-up job because it looks similar to the part of the image just right of the corner. Then there are the squiggly lines over what I would guess was a seam from the paste job. I would suggest cloning over that seam. Last and least I would try to clone out that big post behind and above the Panda's head; but that is major work that might not be worth the effort. All the mentioned little flaws are just touch up work just to polish up the image. It's still a great image and fun to look at. Good job.

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 Comment Written 18-May-2017

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reply by the author on 18-May-2017

thanks a lot for your long and detailed comments;
never scanned, only pics;
n,o editing except cropping

reply by the author on 18-May-2017

checking again on an enlarged pic: on the paw it is a piece of bamboo