Raccoon

[CatherineA]

I know it's a simple photo with simple edits but I wondered if there were any suggestions on how to improve the edits. (The photo is sharper on my screen and I did extra sharpen when posting but it has still gone a bit soft.) Thank you.

[Astro]

Actually Catherine, about the only thing I would do if this were my capture is crop a little more closely to minimise the out of focus areas at the bottom and top of the image making it more of a 'letterbox ' format.

I love both the lighting and the way have capture the curiosity of the racoon.

[CatherineA]

Thank you James, that would make it better!

[Manfred M]

+1 to James' comment. The bottom area is out of focus and distracting. I would also suggest you could crop a bit off the left, that box-like thing is not the main subject and reducing the amount would focus more attention. That bright area behind the raccoon could be toned down a bit as it detracts from your subject.

[CatherineA]

Thank you for the suggestions Manfred. It is true that the raccoon is the subject but I do like the green of the background and the texture of the old and presence of the old box. I had hoped that they could work together but perhaps not.

[Manfred M]

Thank you for the suggestions Manfred. It is true that the raccoon is the subject but I do like the green of the background and the texture of the old and presence of the old box. I had hoped that they could work together but perhaps not.

Catherine - it is your image, so you need to decide what does and does not work for you. Is the green interesting, yes. Does it detract from the raccoon, yes?

Is the box a feature that is an important part of the composition? Yes. Is less box better than more box? Your call. Looking again, more box probably gives better balance to the image.

[Wandjina]

Catherine, I love the the image and the colours. But I agree with both James and Manfred about cropping the image. I would crop out all the distractions.

[Wavelength]

A wonderful raccoon image; i too feel the dark strip on top and the blurred strip on the bottom are bit distracting; the the bright hunchback like bright part will be also removed when the top dark portion is stripped out. I also liked Martin's close cropping; then why not a cropped close up of face too?

[lovelife65]

Very Cute! Too bad they can be really nasty creatures!
The photograph is wonderful. I think in terms of the box, it does need to remain although as Manfred suggests maybe a tad less of it... it does give a bit of context to the scene. I don't think a huge crop of just the raccoon is needed.

[CatherineA]

Thank you all for your comments - they are really helpful to me. And Sharon, yes I think they are really cute too but then I have a soft spot for all animals. I walk with the umbrella over my dog and not myself in the rain and I will cross roads in order not to disturb a squirrel. )