ROYAL Bengal Tiger!

[Ajit Huilgol]

Have you seen anything more royal than this? By April, the month this image was made, the rains are only a distant memory, having made their exit by September, and the grass has turned golden brown. By itself, the grass is pretty, and when you add a tiger to this, you have a heady mix!
Location: Ranthambhore NP, Rajasthan, India
Date: April 2008
Equip: Canon 1D Mlll, Canon 100-400 at 330
Specs: ISO 400, f8, 1/1000s, beanbag on vehicle

Thank you for taking the time out to look, and for your comments/critiques.

[Morkel Erasmus]

lovely shot in golden light!! to me it looks like it needs a slight CCW rotation just to get the tiger level. wish it was mine!

[Doug Brown]

Great setting for such a regal specimen! Agree about the CCW rotation.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the setting, pose and eye contact. Just love the detail, colour and sharpness on the head. Great sighting, and well captured.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Stunning !!! Love the composition and the gorgeous complimentary colors in this image. Fine work !!

[Grace Scalzo]

Beautiful, and regal, you are right! I might consider a slight crop from the top, my eye settles a bit more easily on the tiger's face that way. Thank you for sharing this beauty, I hope you post some more!

[Robert Amoruso]

Aji,

I agree with the others above on the composition. I feel the image is a bit flat. I reposted a version with the following adjustments.

1) Levels adjustment - White Point Slider set the expand tonal range. Mid-tone slider set to lighten up image.
2) Curves adjustment - In PS I used the Linear Contrast preset which is a mild s-curve.
3) USM on a background copy for local contrast enhancement at 20/50/0 (see my tutorial for info http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434)

Saturation has a tendency to get increased downloading an image and then resaving and uploading so you can desaturate it some if you feel that is appropriate.

[Austin Thomas]

Very nice Ajit,

A great complementary background to support the magnificent foreground subject.
I think Robert conversion has lifted the image and agree that a touch less saturation would make it even stronger.

tfs

Austin

[Marc Mol]

Lovely pose and color Ajit, with Robert's repost really making it pop.

[David Fletcher]

Fabulous shot Ajit. Robert's repost enhances nicely and agree too, on a touch less sat'. (tricky as mentioned on gauging it right on reposting as "going blind"). Well done.

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent image with everything spot on , I may agree on rotation ,
I am here with OP as RTR colors are like that only
TFS

[Simon Bennett]

Wonderful capture.