2010 Show # 1
Dear all
Just came back from Bandhavgarh. This time I was on mission to shoot cubs only. Skipped all BIG tigers and searched for cubs all the time. After several days of frustation & hardwork these little cutties made my morning. 9 days , 18 rides, lot of money and zillions of prayers paid off that morning. here is first one
All C & C are most welcome and much appreciated
Harshad
7D, 300/f4 +1.4x at f6.3 , 1/200 , ISO 800 , handheld
Last edited by Harshad Barve; 01-12-2010 at 01:20 AM.
Beautiful Harshadbhai,
How many weeks is the cub? And where is Mama tiger???:eek:
These are 6 month old cubs and Mama left them in grassland & went for hunt. Tigress keep their cubs very secretive as biggest enemy of cubs is male tiger.Originally Posted by Gus Cobos
Why the male tiger? Are the cubs not part of the family pack?
tigers do not live in prides , Females raise cubs upto age of 24 to 26 months and again she will be in position of mating. Dominat male always have 2 to 4 girlfriends so he dont have to worry about females. If male do not get another Tigress or all of his tigresses are busy in rasing cubs , he may kill cubs so that he can mate with Tigress. There are few records of false mating offered by tigress but very rare. Same case happened in kanha NP. I shooted link 7 Tigress and her cub in morning and left for home. After reaching home sad news dashed my all happiness. That male killed cub and forced tigress for mating.
Biggest reasons behind sucess story of Bandhavgarh are
1) Ample food & water
2) More females than required.
right now six females are raising nearly twenty cubs and still four females are in waiting for males
Nice look back pose. I would suggest another round of sharpening on the cub as it appears a little soft to me. I see you made the leap to the "c" word. I'm sure you will do fine with that system too, after all it is who is behind the camera that makes the image. Good luck with the tigers this season as we are ready for more excelent images of these beautiful cats.
Todd
I think IMHO sharpness looks fine to me , these cubs are like stuffed soft toys ,
How much did you pay per tiger cub kilogram? :p:p:p
All worth it though, I bet your heart was beating very fast when you got it.
What a face!!!
Welcome back, Harry ! Lovely image, great find on the road.
Methinks it's the catchlight in the left eye that is giving that impression of lack of sharpness. If there's that one perfectly lit pixel in your subject's eye, the perception of sharpness changes drastically. I tried to tone the bright pixels down a bit by darkeing a few and resizing and re-sharpening the image just a bit. See if you like it.
My personal experience with the 7D images is that you have to be careful with sharpening images at higher ISO's, the images can disintegrate (in terms of quality, detail) pretty quick, if one is not careful.
200 USD per cub image in this trip
Your repost looks fine , may be I am still in Nikon PP RAW mode
Great sighting Harshadbhai. I like the lookback pose, and blends in nicely with the BG. Looking forward to many more from your trip.
No, you are missing the sharpness of your 600 f/4 . :-)
Sorry Todd , You were quite right :o
Cute cub. It seems the new year started well for you. The repost looks better.
By the way, it is a misconception that a tiger kills its own cubs to induce the tigress to mate. Mating in the animal world, is for procreation and not a recreation as is the case with homo sapiens. ;)
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
Sabysachi , I tend not to agree with you here , this fact is proven and documented very well
Please don't go by what the drivers and guides say. Would you mind sharing the references if it is proven fact? As per my knowledge, it is a misconception that a tiger kills its offspring to bring the tigress into heat.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
I have shared story in Pane # 5 , I had image of cub and someone shooted same MALE and tigress in mating
Hi Harshad, well what have I been saying over these past nine days?;)
Firstly, congratulations on getting the cubs, elusive or what. Tigers are well known for their disappearing act, but cubs are something else, so well done.
OK, to the image. Why have you swopped to Canon? :confused:
I do like the pose,especially looking back over to you and using the 1.4 has helped diffuse the BG well. The clarity on the face at f/6.3 is OK but IMHO not as good as it could have been as there is no real detail in the whiskers. At ISO 800 and less shutter speed than focal distance might all have had a play in the overall quality of the image IMHO, sadly.
Harshad I know this seems a little harsh, however I think you & I know where I am coming from.:D In a nut shell it's a nice image, but I feel that it could have been better based on previous postings. You have asked me always to be honest and I am trying to be.
Looking forward to more, said through gritted teeth:D:D:D:D:D
cheers
Steve
Post Production: Its ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Steve
Your honest opinion is highly appreciated and thats the flavour of BPN
Harshad,
Since you asked me to look at your response in pane 5, I am responding point wise. Don't take it as an offense. I have just mentioned facts.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
Last edited by Sabyasachi Patra; 01-12-2010 at 04:42 AM.
No offense Sabyasachi, but I am sure about male behaviours , this does not happen in Bandhavgarh as there is ample food , water & females.
nice pose of a beautiful cub Bhai...
very curious as to why you were using a 7D on this trip? did you trade in your Nikon gear or loan this from a friend?
Beautiful look back pose and Congrats on your cub image. Color toning and details look good. Nicely done.:)
Harshad,
My comment was not limited to tiger behaviour in Bandhavgarh. Similar behaviour has been reported in Ranthambhore, Dudhwa, Royal Chitwan, Kanha to name a few places. You may refer to George B Schaller's pioneering work in Kanha if you want specific references.
Long live the Tiger.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
Can't say enough about the image !!!! Difficult to take your take your eyes away !!
Thanks for the explanation, those male tigers a brutal !!!
RE: pane #14 As our friends down under say "no worries", I just know your previous work and this just was not quite there. Still one I would definitely keep in my files:). As far as your discussion with Sabyasachi, It has been stated that males killing offspring in bears as they don't know whose cubs they are. They just want to pass on there genetics, they don't have the imprinting that the mother does. I know nothing about tigers but could this possibly be the same situation with the male tiger?
Todd
Nice shot Harshad. Like Kiran's work and repost. Was going to suggest to Gus about a possible similarity to Male Bears killing cubs they come across, but Todd beat me to it. Couple of the guys noted a swop to Canon. (you could get counseling for that, :D... well, if it makes you happy bhai. me I went the other way 2 years + ago...too many Quality control issues). Cheers. D
I follow the same policy myself. :D:D
Seriously, this is just a wonderful capture, and it's all in that innocent face and curious turn of the head.
I would (and did!) add a hint of catchlight in the camera-left eye and used a touch of Topaz Detail on
the face. I think I would crop this one fairly tight and add a gentle vignette..
Harshad, must have been a wonderful experience. Agree that the face looks a bit soft. Can your lens-camera combo be a bit front focussing( if you did indeed focus and lock on the eyes) ? I think the part of the body over the tail of the tip is sharper than the head.
Enjoyed reading the tiger behavior tidbits.
Todd,
Elephants are not known to recognise their father. No idea about bears. Tigers can recognise as they stay with their mother for atleast one and half years in case of males to around two years for females. And during that time, there are many occassions when the male tiger meets the cubs along with the tigress. There are lot of photographic evidences from various parts of India and Nepal to prove this.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
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