A happy panda

I conducted a photo tour to China a few years ago, and I paid the Chinese government a great deal of money to have three 1-hour private photo sessions with a young panda. I was given permission to photograph in a location of my choice, so I elected to place the 18-month-old panda in a thicket of bamboo which is its natural food source. It was an amazing experience to be so close to the panda and to get intimate and dramatic shots of it. Most of the time these docile animals didn't show much emotion, but in this shot I was able to capture an expressive moment. I took this with a 70-200mm lens, and my settings were 1/320, f/4, and 500 ISO. I was grateful for the overcast. Low angled sunlight is always good, but for portraits -- animals or people -- I prefer diffused light.