Wild Tiger

Tiger - Scientific name: Panthera tigris tigris

Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, EF 70-200 mm f2.8 L IS II USM lens with EF 2XII TC, ISO 1600, 1/250, f5.6, full frame image.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Wonderful shot.....

Great capture and nice image. Wish a tiny bamboo leaf was not infront of the face. Little off centering the face towards right and a little cropping of the right bamboos will give better composition.

Nice pic sir.... I guess we can add one more expression to the smiley list
....:scared: :mad:or :D are not quite there.

TFS
Roopak

Dangerous moment.excellent sir.

Nice moment captured...............!Nice image
TFS

Nice image Sabyasachi. Looks like the tiger wasnt happy that its privacy had been disturbed. I have heard and seen many photographers deliberately irritate the tiger to get the expressions desired. I am sure that this guy more than obliged you without provocation.

I remember once while on safari in Corbett we had spotted a tiger and it charged at us. After we came back to Dhikala while having tea we bumped into a famous tiger photographer whose name I will reserve as this is a public forum. When he came to know he said that he will also try to catch the same tiger. That evening he showed us the images of a tiger in khinnanauli range with similar expressions. he also admitted that they had to provoke the tiger so that it could almost charge. One can still see those images in his website and many more similar ones. What a pity!!!

Thanks for sharing.

Murugan,
I have been charged at twice by tigers, once because my driver made a mistake and in another instance unknowingly I had come between the tigress and its cubs. I have immense respect for them. I will never irritate them to get a photo. I guess I know the person you are mentioning. :)

As far as this image is concerned, the tiger was yawning and is just closing its mouth after the yawn. However, people who view this feel that the tiger is very annoyed. How easily the tiger is mistaken. I always love to capture some of these micro-expressions during the yawn.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

I will absolutely vouch that you would not have irritated the tiger which is why I wrote without provocation :).

Its amazing we decipher with our little knowledge the various expressions of the tiger. Good to know it was not irritated :). What a beautiful yawn!!!

Also, I would like to add that I was particularly impressed by the 1949 hindi film "Mahal". It is a thriller based on reincarnation story. Apart from Lata Mangeshkar's haunting melodies, Madhubala's memorable role, it was unique because it is perhaps the only suspense film where there is neither a crime committed nor there is an intention for a crime. And this sentence I had read in my childhood days in newspaper review or something, and had stayed in my mind ever since. I somehow remembered that and thought of sharing.