Xiao Liwu, the 5-month old Giant Panda cub, was put on display only a few weeks before this visit (late January, 2013). Needless to say, there was a fairly large crowd (even with the bad weather) waiting to view this 17 pound, terminally-cute animal.
Equipment: Canon 5D Mark III with an EF 100-400 mm L lens. It was not possible to use a tripod as there was "people control" moving the viewers through the display area at a fairly brisk pace. It was just too congested to use the tripod. The camera was set at ISO 1600 at f 5.6 at shutter speed between 1/250 and 1/640 second. Images were cropped to 1600 x 1200 pixels and lightly corrected with Nik Color Efex Pro.
Challenges: Waiting for the right moment, while being respectful of other people waiting to see the baby panda, was the main challenge. The relatively low-noise capabilities of the Canon 5D3 allowed a high enough ISO to do the handheld shots.
Equipment: Canon 5D Mark III with an EF 100-400 mm L lens. It was not possible to use a tripod as there was "people control" moving the viewers through the display area at a fairly brisk pace. It was just too congested to use the tripod. The camera was set at ISO 1600 at f 5.6 at shutter speed between 1/250 and 1/640 second. Images were cropped to 1600 x 1200 pixels and lightly corrected with Nik Color Efex Pro.
Challenges: Waiting for the right moment, while being respectful of other people waiting to see the baby panda, was the main challenge. The relatively low-noise capabilities of the Canon 5D3 allowed a high enough ISO to do the handheld shots.
