Young Sub-adult Tusker @ Masinagudi

There's this very interesting safari route at Masinagudi which has the longest safari duration of around 2.5 hrs. While the route has a pucca tar road, the jungle is quite amazing. There's a huge flip side though, if you happen to be within the first few jeeps taking this route in the morning safari then its the best you could have asked for because soon after 8am this route sees a jeep crossing you every 5 min which makes it super crowded. In the early hours the jungle is quiet(vehicle-less) and has quite a bit of movement, we almost missed a tiger by a few seconds, could only see the tip of the tail and then it was gone. There are quite a few elephants also and we saw this young tusker which was part of a herd. The others in the herd may have been nearby as we could hear more noises in the dense vegetation. The young tusker was pretty playful that morning and was enjoying breakfast.

Nikon D7k, f/5.6, SS 1/320, ISO 2500, 420mm (300f4+1.4x TC), full frame. Didn't have the time to change lenses, hence the frame looks a bit tight.

The youngsters are known to be playful and the playfulness decreases as they age!Nice young tusker with relatively long tusks.Good pic!


Regards

V S Sankar

The elephant's long tusk are so sharp and tint. But nice click one!Keep it up.

Nice moment captured. I liked the display of habitat and the early moring feel of the jungle. He seems to be at ease. Good details. The raised trunk enhances the composition. Nicely captured. Thanks for sharing.

Great to see a tusker in the wild. Slightly less space at the left and more in the right would have strengthened the composition. I like the raised trunk. I think 300mm would have been better as elephant being a large animal, they look a bit constricted and restrained when the composition is tight. There was a time when I used to use the same combination and I used to face the same challenge. Did you try a vertical? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

I have been on this route a couple of times . It is indeed surprising the variety of birds and animals one can sight on this busy route . Elephants are also known to chase vehicles on this route . Nice capture .The tight frame manages to capture a feeling of great size . Thanks for sharing .

Young and healthy. Solid evenly curved tusks. Raised trunk in a joyful mood has added beauty to the image.
A little more space around ...
Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

Thanks all for your kind comments.

Sabyasachi: I was carrying only one camera and it had the 300f4+1.4xTC fixed on it. Did not have the time to remove the lens and shoot at a lower focal length. I did not try a vertical, sounds interesting to know how a vertical would have come up. Thanks

Great One! The elephant's long tusk are sharp and pointed. Great Job Man!

Murugan,
When you find a framing tight in horizontal mode, immediately shift to vertical and see. The subject will appear smaller in frame. However, for subjects like elephant the full horizontal width may not fit in all the time but vertically you will get more space. At times when the elephant is too close I try to move to vertical and frame the head with tusks etc. Same thing with tiger. If a tiger is too close to a safari jeep that you are not able to get the full body and tail then then better to move to vertical orientation and get the head and front shoulder/leg etc.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Hi Sabyasachi- agree with your comments. I have in a couple of previous occasions changed from horizontal to vertical in similar situations. Don''t know why I didn't do that, that day. In fact in the very same trip we had reached a water body looking for animals in the Mudumalai zone, the tree stumps formation in the water was fantastic, the horizontal was too tight and hence I tried a vertical. Will post in landscape section soon. Thanks for your comments and tips n tricks. Cheers.

Very beautiful image...........