Wildlife critique please

I saw this little guy at the local Conservation Club and ran outside with my 75-300 to try to get a pic.
It was one of those days where the sun wasn't sure if it was going to come out or not, but it seemed brighter than it must have been.
I'm thinking I might have bumped the ISO up to 200 or 400 to lighten it and let me use a faster shutter speed, and maybe try adjusting the white balance to 'cloudy' instead of auto, but would like advice please.

This little guy must have had a rough winter....his left ear was missing.

No PP other than crop and convert to jpg to post.

I can't see exif info on my phone but I would not be afraid to bump ISO up to 4 or 800 on order to get your shutter speed up to where it needs to be. Good capture nonetheless.

Without a tripod, I would expect to use ISO 800 or 1600 on a cloudy day with an f/5.6 lens and wildlife on the move. Your photo is a tad too dark, so the exposure compensation or manual exposure need to be raise... probably a couple of stops.

Ideally you want your subject looking INTO the majority of the frame (ie left side here), with plenty of room in front of it. 90% of the time having the camera height at ground level helps isolate a wildlife subject. Alternatively, I may have a considered a wideangle shot here, and placed the fox near the lower left-hand corner of the frame.

google Arthur Morris, and buy his valuable ebooks... worth their weight in gold.

It appears to be underexposed and tonally flat in my monitor. Don't be a slave to ISO 100, especially with moving subjects. If you shot raw, you wouldn't have to worry about white balance. You can take care of it in post-processing.

I would have definitely bumped the ISO way up. I routinely use 1600 and get good results. I would have pushed the shutter speed some here also.

I would have moved to ISO 400 at least. You could also back off the f8.0. Your shutter was 1/250 so you were close to minimum of 1/focal length.

And while you can certainly fixe WB in post if you shot raw, why not get it correct in the camera. Set it it cloudy if that's what it was.

Thank you for your suggestions. i do shoot RAW+JPG, so I'll have the original to work on.
i guess I was being a slave to ISO 100. I'll start branching out more and see what happens.

I cropped the way I did because in the full size, there is a fence post in the foreground on the right side of the picture. This picture was taken at a trap shooting field, and they use the fence post as a distance marker.
Here is the original, PP to bring up the levels a bit and resized for internet uploading.

You're right on about bringing up the ISO and shutter speed. The second pic is much more engaging than the first. Now you just have to go find him again

To stop wildlife... Ai servo center spot focus, evaluative metering, TV mode, 1600th sec and do not shoot wide open.. Adjust the iso to match. Get closer. Your pushing the limits here.. and practice... good luck and have fun.. Kurt

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …thrukurtslens/6​240007481/

Thanks, Grizzly, I'll go try that as soon as I get out of work.
Getting closer wasn't an option. As I moved toward it it began moving away from me.
I think I was pretty lucky getting within 25 yards of it.
But I think it's a 'regular' at the Club, and i know last year there were pups visible at the rifle range, so I'm going to do my utmost to find them.

Being outside and seeing nature in all its glory is always fun.

GrizzlyMan wrote in post #14077445
To stop wildlife... Ai servo center spot focus, evaluative metering, TV mode, 1600th sec and do not shoot wide open.. Adjust the iso to match. Get closer. Your pushing the limits here.. and practice... good luck and have fun.. Kurt

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …thrukurtslens/6​240007481/
Red Fox ~ Explored Oct 14-2011 #177 by Thru Kurts Lens, on Flickr

very cool Kurt, thanks for the info. I have not shot many wildlife stills (but some video) which was a challenge and I definitely used the higher S.S. that I could get away with.