Tiger stare | Kabini

[Deepak Ramani]

The highway passing through the core of this forest has now been closed to the public. The road is gradually degrading. Hopefully, the forests will soon take over this road and all that will be left of this road should be a forest track. Spotting this beauty on this stretch was delightful.

Exif: f4, ISO 400, 1/640s
Eq used: Canon 7D, 300mm f4 IS

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice to see this with the lighting from the side. I like the stare. Did you watch it scent marking? The focus seems to be locked on the lantana. While clicking the AF point can also move back and forth a bit along with the camera movement. So need to check all the images at 100% for critical focus.

The entire forest stretch should remain as dirt track even in the portions that are open for vehicular traffic. That will slow down the vehicles and avoid wildlife deaths due to accidents. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Deepak Ramani]

Sabyasachi...it is not a issue with the movement in the vehicle. After comments on IndiaWilds about my image of the Leopard looking a bit soft for a 20% crop, I got it checked with Canon. It seems my camera was back focusing by about 5 points !!! So you are spot-on here...the focus is on the lantana!! The focus in my cam is now set right and I hope it performs satisfactorily in the field the next time.

[Deepak Ramani]

And yes, I did see it scent-marking. But she had turned her face away from us then

[Suraj Sreedhar]

The tiger looks beautiful................Nice img
TFS

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice image deepak. Beauty she is. Good eye contact and lovely light.

Even in 2000-2001 Mananthavady-HDkote strech was a pristine peice with no traffic as there was no road left beyond kartikulam (most of the old mysore highway was gone). A lot of that has changed now.thankfully a part of this strech has been spared..hope it remains that way.

TFS
Roopak

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice sighting in the open. Lovely head turn and eye contact. It is good to know that the highway is now closed. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sabyasachi...it is not a issue with the movement in the vehicle. After comments on IndiaWilds about my image of the Leopard looking a bit soft for a 20% crop, I got it checked with Canon. It seems my camera was back focusing by about 5 points !!! So you are spot-on here...the focus is on the lantana!! The focus in my cam is now set right and I hope it performs satisfactorily in the field the next time.

Deepak,
Glad to know that our critique has helped. You took it positively and got the camera checked. This is the benefit of honest comments in a peer-to-peer forum.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi