T-39

[Dipankar Mazumdar]

Dear All,
Tigress T-39 from the Ranthambhore national Park.

I had Praveen's image: Mother Leopard/Kabini#3 - Indiawilds: Land of the Tiger. Conservation, Wildlife Photography, Communities (http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6533) of this Leopard in mind when I saw this tiger walking towards me and getting obscured by a large Gum tree, I was hoping for her too peep out and look towards me on getting clear from the tree. Alas a sambhar belled in the near vicinity drawing her attention.
I wished the small twigs in the foreground were not there, cant help it much though.
EOS 50D + 70-200 f4 IS L @ f4, 1/200, ISO 800.

Look forward to comments.

Cheers
Dipankar

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sinister Look! That's the impression I get due to the branch infront of the eye.

Head turn towards you would have been superb. That would have helped in avoiding the dry branches.

I see that you were close and the 70-200 now ensures that there is no creative in-camera cropping. :D

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Lovely sighting, a head turn towards you would have been stunning. Thanks Dipankar for remembering my Leopard image while shooting this:).
tfs

[Bhargava Srivari]

This image has a mysterious feel to it, thanks to the twigs in front of the tiger:) Seems like you had quite a few tiger sightings, how long were you there?

tfs

[Mrudul Godbole]

The composition is nice. It is good that you got the focus right even if there were distractions in the foreground. Without the twigs it would have looked great. Good details. Thanks for sharing.

[Dipankar Mazumdar]

Thankyou all for your comments,
Sabyasachi : Yes, I bought the 70-200 f4 IS L for Ranthambhore and for taking pictures of my boys playing in the park.

I was fed up with getting tight portrait shots with little or no environment on the 300f4 (Ranthambhore specific problem only ) and hence invested in the lens, would have loved to have the 2.8 IS II version, but that was double the cost and out of my reach. The 70-200 f4 IS L is very light weight and was in great form all through the couple of day I was in Ranthambhore. Only once did I take it off to put on the 300 f4 when I wanted a little bit more range.

Bhargava : I did my usual depart friday night, reach early morning on saturday to catch the morning safari leave Sunday night reach monday early morning in time for work. This way I am able to do 4 safaris and have found this plan to be most optimum. But yes, This is feasible only because I am Delhi based. For you and from people coming from further off, I guess a longer stay will be more appropriate.

We had couple of tiger sighting every safari but that's only because it was scorching hot and all one had to do was wait at the water hole. In better climate, the odds are much lower , One good sighting in four safaris.

Cheers
Dipankar

[Sabyasachi Patra]

would have loved to have the 2.8 IS II version, but that was double the cost and out of my reach.
Cheers
Dipankar

I think I have to update the forum rules - Too much of modesty is to be avoided. :D

Delhi is great for travelling in the weekends. Especially Ranthambhore, as the train connection is good.