Rocks

[dickysingh]

http://www.ranthambhore.net/photos/1146257782_6t5wH-X3.jpg

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent pose here by tiger and nice eye contact too , may be touch boost in contrast and USM help
TFS
Sharing techs can be good idea for Mods C & C :)

[Todd Frost]

Good advice given by Harshad. With the long strid of the tiger, I wonder if a pano crop might put more emphasis on it.
TFS
Todd

[Robert Amoruso]

Dicky,

Please remember to post the technical information like the camera, lens, etc. as well as exposure settings.

I like that you got the tiger on the move. Not even sure if my following recommendations would have worked here but something to keep in mind.

The feet are obscured by the wall; if that could be avoided the image would be improved.

If you waited a few more seconds, or took images a fews seconds after this, then the tree would not be behind the tiger's head. Also the left side of the frame; the wall, would have been out of the image.

I reposted a cropped version (Rule of Thirds with the head at the upper right intersection of thirds), contrast added with curves adjustment and some sharpening applied.

I will generally try to avoid large out of focus foreground in my wildlife images as the viewer; as they look at the image, have a tendency to visually stumble looking at the foreground trying to figure out what is being showed, and they can't since it is out of focus. Hope I am making sense to you.

[dickysingh]

Thanks Robert

"The feet are obscured by the wall; if that could be avoided the image would be improved.
If you waited a few more seconds, or took images a fews seconds after this, then the tree would not be behind the tiger's head. Also the left side of the frame; the wall, would have been out of the image."

Could not have done a thing about the feet. She was above us and I was standing on the vehicle - could not have got higher. At this point she was nearly frozen and not moving and she can not have moved ahead in this place. I will post the picture that I got a few seconds later where she used a rock to stalk towards us (actually towards deer that were behind us) and then she charged which I missed all together. What was unusual was that tigers in Ranthambhore rarely use this rocky part of the forest which can get really hot in summers. This was taken in mid May when the temperature was over 45 degrees Centigrade and the rocks must have been burning.

This was Nikon D700, 70-200 mm Nikkor at 200 mm, f 5.6 at 1/1000 handleld at ISO 1250.

The picture that I posted is not cropped at all. I generally avoid cropping while posting to forums as it is better to get a critique of how I could have shot it better. The cropped version does look better. Besides my processing skills are horrible to say the least :(

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice sighting Dicky! Robert has touched on all the right areas in his critique, and his repost has a bit more "oomph" for me.

I also wish that there weren't OOF grasses (?) in front of the tiger's face.

I respect your view re cropping - IMHO that is the benefit of digital and what having all those megapixels is sometimes about...at times when we don't have enough "glass", having a large MP sensor enables us to crop to the composition we would have taken the shot with if we had more "focal length" available at the time. I hope this statement makes sense?

[dickysingh]

@Morkel - Statement makes sense to me for sure. I hope what I said makes some sense too. What I would really like is an honest critique on the original image that I shot. That will help me shoot better.

Cropping is one of the best PP tools that we have. If I have to print it at 4x6 inches then it does not make sense not to crop.

The OOF foreground are rocks. It was impossible to get over them.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Dicky, and I do understand what you are saying - we need to get as much of it right in-camera! :)

I know the immediate FG are rocks, but it looks like there are OOF grass blades in front of her head? those diagonal lines?