Tiger relaxing

As this forum is named after Tiger, I thought of sharing one of my tiger images. Made this image in December of 2007 at Bandhavgarh from elephant back. The tiger was lazing on this rock with eyes closed. Took this image just as it lazily opened its eyes and looked at us.

This was the first time I had seen a tiger in the wild, must say it was love at first sight. A magnificient sight!

Canon EOs 1DIII with EF 400 f5.6 L lens at ISO 640 f5.6 and 1/500s.
Cropped the image by 10%, adjusted curves and slight sharpening.

Wow! Gautam this is really nice, the innocent looks & the relaxed position makes this images more interesting. Lovely first sighting, must be one of the most exciting moments that you have had in the wild. Great work!
tfs

Excellent details. The eye contact and the pose is great. This image surely made your first sighting of the tiger in the wild memorable. I think some more space would have looked good too, any reason for the 10% crop. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice. There can't be any better sight than watching a tiger in the wild. I have seen people experience different emotions watching a tiger. Long live the Apex predator.

Also, I like the myriad colours in the background. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Very nice image. One can almost see the plight in its eyes. I would have added a tad more space at the top. The colours in the background look lovely. Thanks for sharing.

Absolutely beautiful..... You are indeed lucky to have this as a first sighting of a tiger.... I agree with Sabyasachi.... One of the most beautiful creations of nature....
I love this eye contact and the relaxed look in the eyes...
look forward to seeing more pics from you..!!

Beautiful, beautiful, I love it.
Slightly disagree with others about sharp eyes, it looks to me like the nose is 'pin' and the eyes ever so slightly soft.