Hello everyone , thank you for all your comments and suggestions to my previous post, as always much appreciated .
Here is an image of a young tiger of abt 8-9 months old. This family of tigress and 3 cubs are one of the most skittish tigers I have ever come across. The mother is known as Sharmili ( the shy one ), and these tigers are known to get disappear once they hear a vehicle approaching . The same thing happened at this instance , but we were the only vehicle to see them running away and so we decided to wait. And after a very long wait, say nearly 2 hrs , this cub made the move and came to drink. We just waited for somewhile so that others will also get comfortable but no such thing happened. Then we finally approached this cub very cautiously by rolling the vehicle silently as possible. And when we approached the cub it initially started to move away but suddenly it turned back and came to the water. Then it was just a matter of time that the whole family came out , the last one to come was the mother , she was very skittish.
I particularly liked this pose of the cub , who was very cautious and at the same time was not willing to go away. The next time we saw this family after a couple of weeks , the mother was not willing to show her self and the other cubs were doing the same. But this particular cub again came out without any hesitation and sat in the cool pond to cool itself.
DPP 4.5, PSCC 2018, WB, Curves, Selective colour, vib/sat, cropped from the top and bottom, cloned out a twig from rhs and healed a couple of bright spots in the BKG, Sharpening.
Canon 1DX MK II, Canon 200-400m f4 IS II @ 480mm, Bean Bag.
1/2000, f/5.6, iso 1600.
All your comments and suggestions are most welcome.
Captivating a real kick a$$ shot! It just makes me look and look and look, what a shot, beautiful colours and I like the limited DOF. Those eyes, the muddy whiskers those ears, I'd better shut up and just look again.
Hi Haseeb, priceless expression. Nice details and freat colors. Yes pose is unusual and very memorable. I am glad all the waiting was rewarded. Sharmili - Ranthambore?
I would make the red leaf in the FG less obvious.
Hi Haseeb - This just works. I love the look down the body comp with the visible tail. Techs and colors look good and those big, wide eyes staring at you all combine for an excellent shot. I will say that if I am being really picky I want a little more room on the left than right with the body angled toward the left but by no means a deal breaker. This is one of your best.
Thank you everyone for your kind words of appreciation. This happens rarely when the tiger is so cooperative , was very lucky that day.
@ Jay: Sharmili is everywhere in India, like ranthambore, corbett, pench, but this is from a buffer zone of tadoba, where only six cars are permitted in a safari.