Tigress on a hill

[Kiran Khanzode]

This is from my recent trip to Bandhavgarh National Park, India, May'09, peak of the Indian summer. It was early in the morning, she(a young tigress) was sitting in the shade on top of a hill about 150 or so feet away (at an angle of 30-40 degrees) from where I was parked.

Cropped it pano to get a different perspective. Let me know sincerely what you think.

Techs: EOS 40D, 300 2.8 IS with Canon 2x tele at 600 mm f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 800, Av mode , beanbag from jeep.


C & C is most welcome, thx for the views !

Regards,
Kiran

[Stu Bowie]

Kiran, well framed between the two tree trunks. The low angle works well, and I like the turned back head. The head is sharp, with good detail and colours. I would try and remove the thinner tree trunk in the far BG.

[Morkel Erasmus]

stunning shot! the stare makes it. agree with Stu on trying to remove the tree (it looks like it's growing out of her neck ;)) great DOF here as well. I'm so glad there are national parks in India where these lovely cats can roam free without being slaughtered. they need space like that to build up their numbers again.

[Fabs Forns]

Ouch! I wish you had taken a couple of steps to your left to keep the thin tree trunk from shooting out of her head
Other tahn that, it is stunning, lovely framing, rich background and of course, very special subject :)

[Arthur Morris]

Ouch! I wish you had taken a couple of steps to your left to keep the thin tree trunk from shooting out of her head.

He would have had to be very careful moving left as the more left he got, the more the base of the left tree would have blocked his view to the tiger. But moving just a bit left, enough to get the tree away from her head, might have been the way to go.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

It is not always possible to move to the left, however a little bit movement should be ok. I guess a f5.6 aperture would have been better in giving a shallow depth of field.

[Kiran Khanzode]

Thank guys for the replies and the interesting views. I actually made an error reporting the aperture, it's actually 5.6, wide open. Exif is intact in the image.

Morkel, there are very few safe havens for these cats currently and India is struggling to maintain their population. Anyway, that's a totally different subject altogether.

As for moving to the left, it's tough to accomplish that when you are the the left edge of a waterhole with a hill right next to you :-). Sometimes, the tigers walk down these hills, so gotta give them the space too.

Thanks, guys !

[Todd Frost]

I like the over shoulder look and eye contact. OOF tree is unfortunate, removal is an option if within your ethics.
Overall very nice image.
Todd

[Kiran Khanzode]

Thx Todd, it's not so much about the ethical issue of cloning that I am against. But, more of a skill thing, I am not too good at cloning and extending canvases.

[David Fletcher]

Thx Todd, it's not so much about the ethical issue of cloning that I am against. But, more of a skill thing, I am not too good at cloning and extending canvases.

Kiran, someone not very far from this site has a really cool Quick Mask Technique for this very thing. (Goes by the name of Artie... Got my copy a couple of years ago and not sure if it still is available, but doesn't hurt to ask). Dave

[Steve Patterson]

Beautiful Cat....the eyes capture my attention so much the tree isn't that much of an issue to me. It is, after all, how it looked in real life. I hope some day to see a tiger like this in the wild....and I enjoyed a little armchair travel seeing your image. Thanks.