what's black, white and read all over?

I've used tungsten light to create this shot and the main source was wrapped in a red gel. The fill light is diffused- due to being a frosted bulb. I find that the white light from the fill is almost as if it's falling through a window onto the subject.
I shot a series of images that varied the position of the background subject while trying to achieve a shallow focus that is the most efficient in creating a subtle, soft-focus and ambiguous background. A warm and maternally romantic image is what I was trying to achieve. The foreground object has a symbolic meaning of environmentalism and extinction, which is why I choose a red hue to spill over the scene. The placement of the foreground object is centered to give the audience the meaning that a portrait is taking place and the Panda is turned as if comtemplating the other subject it's sharing the frame with.
I have adjusted levels using photoshop to lighten dark areas and tone down the intensity of the red although this increased the blurred edged look- almost to posterization and I find this to be appealing to the shot.