Tiger named T-57 resting in the shade. Though it was mid-afternoon, cloud cover was providing nice diffused light and T-57 was wide awake and willingly participating by posing and looking directly at the camera.
Nikon D850 Nikon 70-200 mm f2.8 + 1.4 TC
1/200 f8 ISO 160.
Many thanks for all the comments on previous posting.
Beautiful tiger, he is in great condition and looks so relaxed, love the eye contact here and POV.
I also like the BG but not so sure about the composition because IMO it poses two problems: not enough space at the bottom of the frame and tail of the subject is cut off.
To me the biggest issue here is ISO: just not enough and the tiger is slightly "soft" if I may say so - just not enough detail. The D850 can comfortably go to 2500 and more but all you needed here is, say ISO 800, in order to gain sufficient SS.
There is a slight blue cast in the FG but you can fix that in LR or PSCC. I would also try lift the blacks a bit and a tad more sharpening on the face would help. Colours look good to me:)
Very special sighting Jay, and I wish you many more Thank you so much for sharing!
I like the setting and dappled light very much here. Depending on the surroundings, I would have preferred a horizontal framing to get the whole tiger in (it's obvious that the whole tail is not in). But having not been there, I am not sure what you constraints on either side were. Either way I would shave some "rock" off the top?
Hi Gabriela, Morkel and John. Thanks for your comments.
ISO - that is one take away from comments here that has really helped. Luckily, I have images from the same sequence which addresses the issues you have riased. So I have images where tiger is higher up in the frame with full tail, SS of 800 and also one with f11 and 1/800. So will use one of those for final selection from this sequence. Regarding cast in the rocks -- it is intentional as I wanted to create more contrast with warmer skin tones of the tiger. But might drop it off in the final image.
Hi Jay -- Superb looking tiger. I too agree with the above comments reg the framing and blues. Though i find your PP much better in your OP than in the RP . Do post more from ranthambore , special place it is .
Hi Jay, I think in the OP you could looks a bit from the top, however the landscape version works too. Agree that the image looks soft, watch your SS asd you had truck loads of ISO to hand. In the OP I feel you needed to work with the light as the lower section with the subject kooks a bit 'flat'. The landscape just looks a bit pushed and so the 'richness is lost for me.