Tiger @ R'Bhore - Sultanpur area

[Praveen Siddannavar]

This image is created at Ranthambhore NP in March'10, we heard alarm calls just twice and it stopped. Our Naturalist Harvinder Singh was smart enough to track this Tiger which was moving in a dense area. After seeing us he first was very alert & once he was convinced that we are no threat to him he moved closer to our jeep and relaxed. Sometimes it becomes difficult with very less time to shoot and animal being so close with a zoom lens, its always tricky to get a desired image. Ours was the only the Gypsy to sight this, very rare situation in NP's.

Camera Model Canon EOS 40D, 100-400mm
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/60
Av( Aperture Value ) 8
ISO 400
Focal length 220mm
Hand held

[V S Sankar]

Beautiful image Praveen.I liked the grass in front of the animal.Nice composition.good work

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice relaxed pose. The eye contact is good. How long was the sighting? I agree it is difficult to compose fast with a zoom lens. Initially I faced that problem too, but with so much range available the lens cant be blamed :).

As Sabysachi says that the camera should act as a extention of your body, so all the movements should come instinctively, without a need to think. I know for me it will take some more time for this to happen :).

I would have liked a bit more space on the right to include its paws in full. Increasing the ISO further would have also helped to get a better shutter speed and more sharpness. Thanks for sharing.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Thanks Mrudul, agree with your comments. The sighting could have been for hours as the Tiger was quite relaxed and was resting. But due to some reasons we had to move from the location. However we had about 10 minutes to photograph this tiger.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice relaxed pose. Am wondering why the light was so bad. Was it in complete shadows? The shutter speed was pretty low. It is good that you got the eyes clear without any grass obstructing it. I agree that moving the camera slightly to the right would have strengthened the image. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Nikhilesh Mahakur]

I like the composition and eye contact. Agree on the sharpness.

[Mohan Raj]

Good photograph. It looks relaxed and it seems to keep an eye on the happenings nearby.