Time for Hunks

[Harshad Barve]

Dear All
after posting so many Ladies and Cubs , now I think its high time for hunks.
Male tigers are all togather diffrent subjects and they prefer to stay alone.
I hope you will appreciate these Gentlemans
This picture made in Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India with D300, 600MM , ISO 800
All C & C are most welcome & appreciated
Harshad <!-- / message --><!-- / message --><!-- / message -->

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good one Harshad!

It is good that you raised the ISO to 800. ISO 200 would have given you 1/100 shutter speed and softer image.

Tiger is a solitary animal, whether it is male or female. Exceptions are 1) the 4-5 days during the mating season when the male and female stay togather and 2) when a tigress has got cubs 3) when tigress has moved away and the adolescents are yet to branch out on their own. They hunt together at that time for a few months.

Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[David Fletcher]

Another fine shot Harshad. Big beast!

[Fabs Forns]

Stunning animal showing the habitat where the live. Very nice and thanks Sabyasachi for the info :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

you can just see the testosterone in this chap! I saw a programme on TV here the other day about a famous South African conservationist who is using his farm to breed wild tigers for re-release in India.

great shot - once again I would up saturation and play with levels to make him pop more.

for example:
applied a reverse S-curve
USM 10%, 20px

what do you think?

with some extra effort you could clone out some of the blades of grass in front of the face.

[Harshad Barve]

I will go for this if we want to pop this iamge
Sharpning is ok in my view
How it looks now ?
Harshad

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Great cat shot Harshad. I like the closeness and threatening appeal in this image. I think a rework between your last and Morkel's image would be perfect. Thanks for sharing. :)

[Harshad Barve]

Thanks Akos
After Safari we actually realized we were dangerously close
Harshad

[Morkel Erasmus]

too close for comfort it seems ;)

the USM I applied wasn't because the image is soft - it is actually a way to subtly increase contrast in the image. in my opinion, one should try to show such a magnificent cat as much as possible.

your repost works as well, as you said, depending on your preference and intent.

[Harshad Barve]

Hi Morkel
Generally these big cats loose their coat colors in Indian Summners, So adding contrast/Sat. dont support BG
Wait till oct , I will post some real colorful Tigers
Generally IMHO , People tend to sharp mamals so to get fur details, But I wonder how often we are able to see hair & hair on a fur
again I think sharpning is personal test
Thanks for valuable additions in thread, looking forward for your opinion
I hope I am not hurting you
Harshad

[Morkel Erasmus]

no offence mate! I like learning how other people think about these things.

interesting - I did not know that they lose their colour in summer.
in that case leave as is. :)

normally my reasons for sharpening is not to get fur details but just to make the subject stand out more from the background (especially if the BG is cluttered).

keep posting these wonderful animals!

[Harshad Barve]

Thanks Morkel
Lot many to come
Harshad

[Bryan ramsay]

Two subtle changes between your first post and the two improvements: one is the dynamic range eg the contrast of the and the other is the saturation of the color. I concur that the added contrast in the second image really helps, but an often overlooked difference in saturation that can come with darkening in curves could be handled by either using Luminance blending or a touch of hue/sat so the animal doesn't come across as "colorful".

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Wow!

I didn't know that they can show different hair tones. Great looking fellow. Morkel's version is great, actually I think a version between yours and Morkel's would be great, just my two cents.

[Robert Amoruso]

I like your repost Harshad. Seems to be a good take on the desaturated color and a mild contrast boost.

[Sid Garige]

Like the repost Harsha. We will wait for colorful tigers in oct.:)

[Steve Canuel]

Repost looks good. I like the eyes on this one and the slightly opened mouth with just a hint of the bottom canines being visible.

[Kartikeya Puri]

I like the repost done by you Harshad, as it boots the desaturated colors without oversaturating them. :-)