An exchange

[Overread]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3603/3329688944_d85579cd23_o.jpg
f5.6, ISO 400, 1/100sec - flash used with exposure compensation for fill

Otter getting some food from the keeper at the BWC - sorry I can't name either model though LP might be able to ;)

With this shot I was trying to go for the exchange and interaction between the keeper and the otter - the faily relaxed pose of the keeper (sitting on the floor) I felt helped the scene. However I missed the actual point where both keeper and otter had a hold on the food - but did mange to get this result. At the time I was constrainted by a few things - the first (and most noticable) is the bars (that white bit in the corner) which prevented me getting a different angle on the pair and also prevented any thoughts of zooming out any futher for the shot to get more of the keeper - though this is more of an afterthought as at the time I was really going for that point where both were holding the food.
That is the first failing to my eyes and with the shot I know a crop would help but I am rather unsure how to crop without introducing other problems - simply cropping out the corner seems to leave a lot of empty blue leg on the part of the keeper which then appears to be an even bigger distraction and pointless area of shot than the original white patch that I was trying to lose.

The second failing or limitation is part keeper and part exposure. On the part of exposure it was getting into the evening on a cloudy day so I was using flash to give me more light to work with (I don't like taking my ISO too high as noise kills details really quickly I find) and even though I could have stopped down to f4 at these closer distances and using a teleconverter I prefer to stay at least one stop down to try and preserve sharpness and details in the final result. This have given a darker edge to the overall shot I feel - it really feels that flash was used
Also with wet otter, slimy food and slimy plastic gloves the shot feels - well it feels slimy to me and that was not something that I wanted to convey to the viewer. However I accept that I should not get the gloves off and a dry otter, well is there such a thing?? ;) I have wondered if there is a way to take the editing to try and lessen this slimy feel and also if this feeling is in anyway conveyed to the normal viewer - or if its just something that I alone feel.

[Hertz van Rental]

As it stands this is an OK shot of an otter. It's in the process of taking food so it is an action shot.
Nothing to feel disappointed about there.
As far as the 'interaction' between otter and keeper goes, I'm afraid it just isn't happening.
By cropping tight you have reduced the keeper to nothing more than a set of disembodied hands. For interaction to take place you need to see the keeper's face. You can see the otter's expression but you can't see that of the keeper and you need to if your original intention is to be fulfilled.
I appreciate the difficulties but it just goes to illustrate that you can't always get the shot you want due to the limitations of the situation you find yourself in. But you still got a nice shot and you should be happy with that.
As for using the flash, I can see nothing wrong with it. In fact it has worked in your favour.
It may give what you consider to be unpleasant specular highlights but take another look.
The flash has put a small highlight into the otter's eye which has brought it to live and makes the creature look vital. Without it it would look like a dead fish.
Also otters are creatures of the water. This one is clearly moist and the flash puts life into that too.
So all things considered the flash has put punch and life into what could have been a boring image.
The one thing I would say spoils the shot is the big white triangle bottom right. It looks like something white very close to the lens (bars?).
It takes your attention away from the otter.
It's easy to reduce in Photoshop using a soft mask and some local brightness control.

[Overread]

My thanks Hertz - certainly some food for thought there and I rather like that your view of the shot is very different from my own - I guess the sort of shot I was after was a much closer shot with mostly just hand and otter interacting with the food caught between the two but lacking that "tug of war" look.
I could have shot as you describe - with more of the keeper in the shot - however then I think that it would have had two problems for me.
1) limitations on location would have forced me to stand up more -losing the otter eye level and looking more like a human eye level "snapshot"
2) reducing the otteryness of the shot and dominating it a bit too much with the keeper

Again I think you are right that this was a case where to get my vison of the shot was not going to happen the way I really wanted it to -