Close Encounter with Dhikala Tiger Family (2)

[Debasis Bose]

Further to my last (http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?16296-Close-Encounter-with-Dhikala-Tiger-Family) the dhikala male walked onto the forest beat path to our right side. We could not see him but could hear his deep guttural growl, slowly moving away to the far side. We decided to move from motasal and shift to thandi sadak between no. 3 fire line and leedkhalia road. Without wasting time we reached to the position where we anticipated the tiger to reappear and waited for a minute or so. We saw a deer jumping out of the bushes from our right and started running towards our gypsy, the minute deer was next to our gypsy we saw this young cub dashing out of the bushes and sprinting directly towards us. Two seconds later two more tigers came out and started running after a second deer and third one leaped out from our right to left after a third deer that leaped a fraction of second before the tiger. I was actually spellbound and did not know which shot to take. Will post few more action shots soon.

The image could have been better, you need to consider being amateur photographer, undergoing experience of lifetime, especially after clicking this shot one chital and tiger leaped from right to left across, less than a meter away from the bonnet of our gypsy, I was totally awed and lost my concentration on the camera. In fact the change of air pressure due to 200 kg mass flying @ about 60 km/hr just few meter ahead of me moved my full body, with one single sound all at same time by my family members "ooooahhhh wooooowww...".

Nikon D 7000, Nikor 300 F 2.8, @ 300mm f/3.2, 1/640 s, ISO 200

[Shyamala Kumar]

Must have been the most thrilling moment of your collective lives!:001_smile:.What a sequence of events! Not one but three tigers on the hunt.One lives for just such a sighting.The tiger seems to be on the gallop like a horse.Waiting for more...

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Lively image. Three legs in air with tail balancing the galloping rush, large depth of field with blurred background, quick reflex...all have immensely contributed to this absorbing tale in the jungle called Corbett. Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Great experience. At times photography is a bonus. A sprinting tiger needs a fast shutter speed and quick locking of focus. A higher ISO would have been better. f2.8 would result in razor thin depth of field so a narrow aperture would be good. I think your processing is letting you down. The captured image may be a bit better than what you have posted. Look forward to the rest of the story and action.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Suraj Sreedhar]

WoW...........superb moment captured!!!
TFS

[Swapnil Dighe]

It must have been one awesome experience...I remembered my first Tiger Spotting in Jim Corbett.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I tried to work on this image, based on the small jpeg uploaded here. Here is one version in colour. Purposefully I have added more contrast. The tiger in the previous image appeared to have the whites nearly blown, so had to tone down the overall brightness as well. Working on the raw would give better results as the small jpeg broke up in editing. I hope this edit will help in recreating this wonderful experience better.

[Debasis Bose]

Thank you Sabyasachi. The image now looks wonderful

[Debasis Bose]

I am in Seoul, will travel to Busan on Sunday. Once get some time will post the other images they are of cubs chasing deer and then parents coming out in open and conveying their cubs the lesson of the life

[Rajbir Oberoi]

Lovely shot Debasis. wish the shutter speed was lil high, but thts how jungles are they surprise u every time, sometimes you are not ready for something and dont get time to change settings, eventually u have to take wat u get.... once again Lovely Shots....

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Agree this is once in a life time experience and needs to be cherished as such. Most will never even get to see anything like this. Images will help others also visualize the scene better and at least join you in proxy in enjoying a superb natural history moment.

TFS
Roopak

[Samrat Sarkar]

amazing experience...