Male tiger from Tadoba, India

[AdityaPadhye]

Shivaji, a male tiger from the Kolsa range in Tadoba Tiger Reserve
Shot in late afternoon in slightly harsh sunlight
Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM + Canon EF 2x III Extender
1/640s
Handheld
f/6.3
ISO640

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Very nice capture Aditya, Congrats. only wish the blades of grass didn't come in the way! But I like the eye contact!!
Sanjeev

[Harshad Barve]

One of the biggest male I have seen , very well done
TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Aditya, a lovely looking male and in prime condition.

If you could, moving to the right would have helped to avoid the grasses which are slightly distracting and by doing so I think you would still have had eye contact, as Shivaji seems quite interested with your presence. I feel the sharpening & ISO seems to clash, giving this crunchy look & feel to the subject, with an almost sooty feel, - something Harshad knows I have commented on with regard to his images when he used the 7D. Morkel is better equipped to advise on this and is perhaps down to processing. The whites don't look clean and the blacks look a little heavy, so if you have applied any contrast then easing off may help, just needs some opening up? I would also think about applying some NR in the BKG areas too.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Aditya, Looks like a very large male. Nice head on stare and I like that you captured him in the water. Good suggestions by Steve for both in the field and pp improvements.

TFS,
Rachel

[AdityaPadhye]

Thanks for the comments and CC :)
@Rachel, Do you still see a blue cast this time? I've toned down the blues and cyans this time
@Steve, the grass is distracting I agree. But there was some bamboo structure in the background (you can see a small bit of it in the upper right hand corner) which was man made (to help in water retention for the summers I guess) and was spoiling the natural look of the image. Made it look as if it was shot in a zoo :( Would a tighter crop help instead?
I've tried out high pass sharpening for the first time with this image, I normally either use USM or Nik Sharpener. I think I overdid it a bit?
I'll tone down the contrast. As for the whites, I am having this problem in almost all my tiger images with the whites :( So far I've tried out selective coloring, hue and saturation to tone down the blues in my whites. The blue cast does disappear but I never get proper pure white. Dunno what I'm doing wrong, the blue cast is not present in my raw files

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Aditya, thanks for coming back, this does really help in this part of the Forum, as feedback from both sides really aids the critique and quite often produces more clarity to the image/thread for others too.

I can very much appreciate the situation, especially with a fixed lens, not as flexible as the Nikon 200-400 :bg3:. Firstly if you get the shot you want, then change format ie from landscape to portrait if time allows, this might give you another option, or crop. In this instance you could look at a tighter crop IQ permitting, but you may need to do a little cloning out and I don't know how you feel about that?

Sharpening can been a minefield, everyone has their own ways in achieving that and what software they feel comfortable in using, however I think in this instance you may have been a little too keen on the slider/amount applied, hence the look of the image. I would suggest you look through some of the threads in Workflow as there have been some question there and it might help you.

Re the whites, well probably down to exposure, plus processing, all can be done whilst working in RAW, providing there is some detail in there. Always look at your histogram, that is a big help to avoid blown whites generally whilst out in the field. You shouldn't get a pure white as that indicates that there is no tone, you need something there which can be extracted and enhanced again at the RAW stage. This might give some help?

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/82188-Are-the-whites-hot

When using Saturation you may find it attacks other colours, again, subtle colour enhancements with the relevant channels in the RAW convertor can hopefully address this and you can be far more selective in the areas too, just depends on what you use.

Obviously there are more steps applied within these steps below, plus each image is different, but from importing your image:
- WB get that looking right
- Exposure get that looking right
- Apply some clarity
- Vibrance, IMHO not Saturation
- Tone Curve, perhaps, but this can, if applied to much, may block some of the darker/black areas

Then other steps etc, etc

Again, this is just my thoughts, other people operate differently so this is not a defined Workflow, just an indication of things to look for. IQ is not great, but an option on the crop, but you would need some cloning too.

cheers
Steve

[AdityaPadhye]

Hi Steve, thanks for replying!
This crop looks better, the bamboo structure is gone too :D
Will try re-editing following your suggestions, including NR on the bg.
I have no problem cloning out unwanted elements in the picture
Thanks for taking out time for the critique :) Its been two months since I'm trying my hand at shooting wildlife and am loving it so far. And BPN has been a treasure trove of info for me so far!

[Steve Kaluski]

Its been two months since I'm trying my hand at shooting wildlife and am loving it so far. And BPN has been a treasure trove of info for me so far!

When you enjoy things, achieving your goals and wishes, become easier. :bg3: You will find that participating not only in posting an image, but perhaps, more importantly, adding your thoughts, advice & suggestions to others, you will grow & develop quicker and implement the feedback into your own photography & style.

Good luck. :wave:

[Morkel Erasmus]

He sure looks like an imposing specimen, Aditya...
Steve has raised some valid points in his responses above. The 7D is a temperamental lady - you need to treat her with a lot of respect :tinysmile_shy_t:. She can deliver good IQ - but you need to be selective with your sharpening and light-handed. I personally stay away from high-pass sharpening and only use USM for local contrast adjustments. Many people use plug-ins but I find that 'smart sharpen' works well enough for me...just keep the radius and amount small. I rather apply 2 rounds of slight sharpening than 1 round of moderate sharpening. Also - the Lightroom NR sliders are your friends as the newer versions work very well with 7D raw files to get rid of the most unsightly parts of the graininess.

Have you done anything specifically to the eyes as they seem to 'glow' a bit unnaturally? :e3

[AdityaPadhye]

Hi Morkel, this is the last time I'm using high pass :P Will stick to USM or smart sharpen in the future
I don't use LR, I normally use NeatImage or Nik Define for NR. However I forgot to do any NR on this specific image.
I've used the dodge tool a bit on the eyes, there was a shadow on his right eye which was looking weird, did I overdo it? :P

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely specimen and he pops right off of the screen. Although the grasses through his mouth don't bother me, the fact that he is centered doesn't really work too well for me. I do like the wider view b/c I find the environment of this capture pleasing.

Personally, I only use USM when sharpening for printing. I have found Smart Sharpen to be my friend.

[AdityaPadhye]

Heres a re edited version, made the following changes
Toned down the eyes a bit, changed the center composition, used smart sharpen, did some NR on the background

[Ken Watkins]

Apart from the "pesky" grass which is only slightly annoying this is wonderful, repost is much better