2010 Show # 1

[Harshad Barve]

Dear all
Just came back from Bandhavgarh. This time I was on mission to shoot cubs only. Skipped all BIG tigers and searched for cubs all the time. After several days of frustation & hardwork these little cutties made my morning. 9 days , 18 rides, lot of money and zillions of prayers paid off that morning. here is first one
All C & C are most welcome and much appreciated
Harshad

7D, 300/f4 +1.4x at f6.3 , 1/200 , ISO 800 , handheld

[Gus Cobos]

Beautiful Harshadbhai,
How many weeks is the cub? And where is Mama tiger???:eek:

[Harshad Barve]

Beautiful Harshadbhai,
How many weeks is the cub? And where is Mama tiger???:eek:

These are 6 month old cubs and Mama left them in grassland & went for hunt. Tigress keep their cubs very secretive as biggest enemy of cubs is male tiger.

[Gus Cobos]

Why the male tiger? Are the cubs not part of the family pack?

[Harshad Barve]

tigers do not live in prides , Females raise cubs upto age of 24 to 26 months and again she will be in position of mating. Dominat male always have 2 to 4 girlfriends so he dont have to worry about females. If male do not get another Tigress or all of his tigresses are busy in rasing cubs , he may kill cubs so that he can mate with Tigress. There are few records of false mating offered by tigress but very rare. Same case happened in kanha NP. I shooted link 7 Tigress and her cub in morning and left for home. After reaching home sad news dashed my all happiness. That male killed cub and forced tigress for mating.

Biggest reasons behind sucess story of Bandhavgarh are
1) Ample food & water
2) More females than required.

right now six females are raising nearly twenty cubs and still four females are in waiting for males

[Todd Frost]

Nice look back pose. I would suggest another round of sharpening on the cub as it appears a little soft to me. I see you made the leap to the "c" word. I'm sure you will do fine with that system too, after all it is who is behind the camera that makes the image. Good luck with the tigers this season as we are ready for more excelent images of these beautiful cats.
Todd

[Harshad Barve]

I would suggest another round of sharpening on the cub as it appears a little soft to me.

I think IMHO sharpness looks fine to me , these cubs are like stuffed soft toys ,

[Fabs Forns]

How much did you pay per tiger cub kilogram? :p:p:p

All worth it though, I bet your heart was beating very fast when you got it.
What a face!!!

[Kiran Khanzode]

Welcome back, Harry ! Lovely image, great find on the road.

Methinks it's the catchlight in the left eye that is giving that impression of lack of sharpness. If there's that one perfectly lit pixel in your subject's eye, the perception of sharpness changes drastically. I tried to tone the bright pixels down a bit by darkeing a few and resizing and re-sharpening the image just a bit. See if you like it.

My personal experience with the 7D images is that you have to be careful with sharpening images at higher ISO's, the images can disintegrate (in terms of quality, detail) pretty quick, if one is not careful.

[Harshad Barve]

How much did you pay per tiger cub kilogram? :p:p:p



200 USD per cub image in this trip

[Harshad Barve]

Welcome back, Harry ! Lovely image, great find on the road.

Methinks it's the catchlight in the left eye that is giving that impression of lack of sharpness. If there's that one perfectly lit pixel in your subject's eye, the perception of sharpness changes drastically. I tried to tone the bright pixels down a bit by darkeing a few and resizing and re-sharpening the image just a bit. See if you like it.

My personal experience with the 7D images is that you have to be careful with sharpening images at higher ISO's, the images can disintegrate (in terms of quality, detail) pretty quick, if one is not careful.

Your repost looks fine , may be I am still in Nikon PP RAW mode

[Stu Bowie]

Great sighting Harshadbhai. I like the lookback pose, and blends in nicely with the BG. Looking forward to many more from your trip.

[Kiran Khanzode]

Your repost looks fine , may be I am still in Nikon PP RAW mode

No, you are missing the sharpness of your 600 f/4 . :-)

[Harshad Barve]

Nice look back pose. I would suggest another round of sharpening on the cub as it appears a little soft to me.

Sorry Todd , You were quite right :o

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Cute cub. It seems the new year started well for you. The repost looks better.

By the way, it is a misconception that a tiger kills its own cubs to induce the tigress to mate. Mating in the animal world, is for procreation and not a recreation as is the case with homo sapiens. ;)

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Harshad Barve]

By the way, it is a misconception that a tiger kills its own cubs to induce the tigress to mate.

Sabysachi , I tend not to agree with you here , this fact is proven and documented very well

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sabysachi , I tend not to agree with you here , this fact is proven and documented very well

Please don't go by what the drivers and guides say. Would you mind sharing the references if it is proven fact? As per my knowledge, it is a misconception that a tiger kills its offspring to bring the tigress into heat.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Harshad Barve]

I have shared story in Pane # 5 , I had image of cub and someone shooted same MALE and tigress in mating

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Harshad, well what have I been saying over these past nine days?;)

Firstly, congratulations on getting the cubs, elusive or what. Tigers are well known for their disappearing act, but cubs are something else, so well done.

OK, to the image. Why have you swopped to Canon? :confused:

I do like the pose,especially looking back over to you and using the 1.4 has helped diffuse the BG well. The clarity on the face at f/6.3 is OK but IMHO not as good as it could have been as there is no real detail in the whiskers. At ISO 800 and less shutter speed than focal distance might all have had a play in the overall quality of the image IMHO, sadly.

Harshad I know this seems a little harsh, however I think you & I know where I am coming from.:D In a nut shell it's a nice image, but I feel that it could have been better based on previous postings. You have asked me always to be honest and I am trying to be.

Looking forward to more, said through gritted teeth:D:D:D:D:D

cheers
Steve

[Harshad Barve]

Hi Harshad, well what have I been saying over these past nine days?;)

Firstly, congratulations on getting the cubs, elusive or what. Tigers are well known for their disappearing act, but cubs are something else, so well done.

OK, to the image. Why have you swopped to Canon? :confused:

I do like the pose,especially looking back over to you and using the 1.4 has helped diffuse the BG well. The clarity on the face at f/6.3 is OK but IMHO not as good as it could have been as there is no real detail in the whiskers. At ISO 800 and less shutter speed than focal distance might all have had a play in the overall quality of the image IMHO, sadly.

Harshad I know this seems a little harsh, however I think you & I know where I am coming from.:D In a nut shell it's a nice image, but I feel that it could have been better based on previous postings. You have asked me always to be honest and I am trying to be.

Looking forward to more, said through gritted teeth:D:D:D:D:D

cheers
Steve

Steve
Your honest opinion is highly appreciated and thats the flavour of BPN

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Harshad,
Since you asked me to look at your response in pane 5, I am responding point wise. Don't take it as an offense. I have just mentioned facts.




Harshad: tigers do not live in prides ,
Sabyasachi:
It is right that tigers do not live in prides. You can find a tigress with cubs, and at times with its father as well. There are also instances, when another tigress of previous litter or an unrelated tiger can also be around sharing a kill. Tigers are not as solitary or “uncivilized” as people believe.

Harshad: Females raise cubs upto age of 24 to 26 months and again she will be in position of mating.
Sabyasachi: Females raise cubs. Male cubs normally move away when it is about 18 months or so. Female cubs tend to stay around for a longer time around 22-24 months. Tigress can and does mating even when cubs are around. As you know, the lactating phase doesn’t last for so long. :D<o>:p></o>:p>

Harshad: Dominat male always have 2 to 4 girlfriends so he dont have to worry about females.
Sabyasachi: Again, I repeat. Animals mate for procreation. Not recreation like humans. It is not for fun. A male's territory often cuts across a female's territory and he can mate when the female is receptive. <o></o>>

Harshad: If male do not get another Tigress or all of his tigresses are busy in rasing cubs , he may kill cubs so that he can mate with Tigress.
Sabyasachi: This is incorrect. A tiger does not kill its own cubs to mate with the tigress. Since you visit bandhavgarh, you may have seen B2 with its cubs, or Rajbehera male with its cubs, sharing meal from the with the cubs. You can check literature on the subject. <o></o>

Harshad: There are few records of false mating offered by tigress but very rare.
Sabyasachi: False mating is a well documented phenomena. You may refer to Raghu Chundawat's work in Panna.

Harshad: Same case happened in kanha NP. I shooted link 7 Tigress and her cub in morning and left for home. After reaching home sad news dashed my all happiness. That male killed cub and forced tigress for mating.

Sabyasachi: As far as this incident in Kanha is concerned, the cub was 14 months old. It was known that the Tiger had killed the cub and ate a portion of it. The Field Director said that there are too many tigers in Kanha. As you would be aware, not every cub gets to adult hood. There is always competition for food. When the prey base gets depleted, the tigress and cubs have to move a greater distance in search of food. That brings them in contact with other tigers and confrontation happens due to want of food. In situations, when prey base is adequate, these kinds of confrontations are rare. This situation can no way be interpreted that the tiger wanted to mate and hence killed the cub. By the way was this tiger the father of the cub?


Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Harshad Barve]

Harshad,
Since you asked me to look at your response in pane 5, I am responding point wise. Don't take it as an offense. I have just mentioned facts.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

No offense Sabyasachi, but I am sure about male behaviours , this does not happen in Bandhavgarh as there is ample food , water & females.

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice pose of a beautiful cub Bhai...

very curious as to why you were using a 7D on this trip? did you trade in your Nikon gear or loan this from a friend?

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful look back pose and Congrats on your cub image. Color toning and details look good. Nicely done.:)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

No offense Sabyasachi, but I am sure about male behaviours , this does not happen in Bandhavgarh as there is ample food , water & females.

Harshad,
My comment was not limited to tiger behaviour in Bandhavgarh. Similar behaviour has been reported in Ranthambhore, Dudhwa, Royal Chitwan, Kanha to name a few places. You may refer to George B Schaller's pioneering work in Kanha if you want specific references.

Long live the Tiger.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Alfred Forns]

Can't say enough about the image !!!! Difficult to take your take your eyes away !!

Thanks for the explanation, those male tigers a brutal !!!

[Todd Frost]

RE: pane #14 As our friends down under say "no worries", I just know your previous work and this just was not quite there. Still one I would definitely keep in my files:). As far as your discussion with Sabyasachi, It has been stated that males killing offspring in bears as they don't know whose cubs they are. They just want to pass on there genetics, they don't have the imprinting that the mother does. I know nothing about tigers but could this possibly be the same situation with the male tiger?
Todd

[David Fletcher]

Nice shot Harshad. Like Kiran's work and repost. Was going to suggest to Gus about a possible similarity to Male Bears killing cubs they come across, but Todd beat me to it. Couple of the guys noted a swop to Canon. (you could get counseling for that, :D... well, if it makes you happy bhai. me I went the other way 2 years + ago...too many Quality control issues). Cheers. D

[David Thomasson]

Dominat male always have 2 to 4 girlfriends so he dont have to worry about females.

I follow the same policy myself. :D:D

Seriously, this is just a wonderful capture, and it's all in that innocent face and curious turn of the head.
I would (and did!) add a hint of catchlight in the camera-left eye and used a touch of Topaz Detail on
the face. I think I would crop this one fairly tight and add a gentle vignette..

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/6530/cub2.jpg

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Harshad, must have been a wonderful experience. Agree that the face looks a bit soft. Can your lens-camera combo be a bit front focussing( if you did indeed focus and lock on the eyes) ? I think the part of the body over the tail of the tip is sharper than the head.

Enjoyed reading the tiger behavior tidbits.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

RE: pane #14 As our friends down under say "no worries", I just know your previous work and this just was not quite there. Still one I would definitely keep in my files:). As far as your discussion with Sabyasachi, It has been stated that males killing offspring in bears as they don't know whose cubs they are. They just want to pass on there genetics, they don't have the imprinting that the mother does. I know nothing about tigers but could this possibly be the same situation with the male tiger?
Todd

Todd,
Elephants are not known to recognise their father. No idea about bears. Tigers can recognise as they stay with their mother for atleast one and half years in case of males to around two years for females. And during that time, there are many occassions when the male tiger meets the cubs along with the tigress. There are lot of photographic evidences from various parts of India and Nepal to prove this.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi