Canon Elan IIe, handheld Canon 75-300 at 225mm Fuji Provia 100 f8, 1/125

Confessions

Alright, truth be told, this photo isn't part of my normal stock, since it lacks sharpness (and decent color), but it was too cute to let pass.

On Shell Mound Trail in Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida, several Raccoons (Procyon lotor) were scampering about on the boardwalk gathering some kind of nuts or seeds that had fallen. This one, as I approached, made the mistake of climbing a tree only twelve feet tall that hung directly over the boardwalk. It was a simple matter of walking directly beneath him and aiming up.

But I blew it. Stupidly, I didn't switch to autofocus as I did so, and was still set for manual. Canon's 75-300 suffers from a bit of 'zoom creep', and it kept trying to shorten up as I pointed skyward. Between trying to focus manually and keeping the lens from changing my framing, not to mention hold steady while bent back, the focus wandered out too far. And I had one shot at it before he looked away.

I used about six different methods within Photoshop to get it to pass muster for web use. Otherwise, it's one of my (many) missed shots. Which isn't to say that I missed all opportunites that day -- the header image on the Feedback page was taken then too.