Bandhavgarh diary

[Neeraj Prasad]

Oh.. generally lazing around . . .

@ 360mm, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 800

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice yawning pose captured. I think a higher ISO and shutter speed would have been good to get more details. Which area of Bandhavgarh was this photographed in? Thanks for sharing.

[Neeraj Prasad]

Thanks Mrudul !:001_smile:

Request from some tips here. The light was harsh in some areas and the subject was partially in shade (you would notice some areas towards the front left & in between the bushes are over exposed). I was also struggling with thick bush in the background which was quite close and I was unable to isolate the subject with a 5.6 aperture ( maximum at the tele). I am not sure if dropping the kelvin would have helped here. Stopping down was not doing that great. I have a few shots with negative compensations. afternoons are tricky !

Looking forward for inputs .

[Debasis Bose]

Lovely capture, the canine and incisors indicate he is a young tiger. The habitat seems to be familiar (tadoba of magdhi) and favourite haunt of Bamera and Kankatti's son Somanshu, please correct me if I am wrong. Today Bamera alias Shashi took his last breath, RIP Bamera.

[Neeraj Prasad]

Spot on dada .. it is magdhi zone . RIP Bamera ....

[Sabyasachi Patra]

You can't isolate the tiger with f5.6 when the bamboo clump is barely inches behind it.

In summer the tiger sighting is a bit easier however light is tricky. One needs to compose taking into account the light and shade. The dynamic range of cameras these days have improved a lot. However, still including the deep black shadows and the bright sunlit areas in one frame becomes tough. If it is unavoidable then try to reduce the bright areas. Out of focus bright areas become a big distraction. So one needs to compose and choose a depth of field accordingly.

[Neeraj Prasad]

yes. That's what I was struggling with. Any inputs on WB ? would dropping the kelvin helped, could have given it a blue tinge .. haven't ever tried so not sure ..

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I find lot of people have a tendency to increase the colour temperature to 5500-6600K etc to make impart a yellow colour as if the image has been shot in golden light. Many so called top photographers here in India do that as well. The fact is when you increase the colour temperature the overexposed issue gets exacerbated. I have infact stopped telling people about it because I find most of them in a herd mentality and not ready to listen.

These days the AWB of Canon cameras is very good and hardly a person needs to change it. If you make it blue then it will be funny. Only in the evening or early mornings you will get that colour.

Your image also has a white balance which is close to shade. Try reducing it and you will find the image will be a bit better as the overexposed area on the right will not attract our attention.

Technically one can use a graduated neutral density filter infront of the lens and get the problem resolved. In post also one can do it. However, most of the magazines and photography competitions will disallow that kind of post processing. So the best bet is to get it right in the field. Considering that you may not be able to move the jeep, all one can do is move a bit to the right in the jeep and then angle the camera towards the tiger so that less of the bright highlight is visible. The bamboo clump has made a natural arch, so our eye automatically goes there.

When you analyse the image deeply it stays in your mind and next time in the field you will realise that automatically you are composing and exposing better.

PS: Why a white border on the image. It actually reduces the size available for the image.

[Neeraj Prasad]

My WB was Shade !! :thumbdown: I agree, as it is gives a warmer shade to the picture.

Dear Sabya - Heartily appreciate your response. The WB is on auto now. :thumbup1: Really appreciate you taking out time and clarifying !