Cinta
Another shot of Cinta the beautiful Sumatran Tiger Cub
Another shot of Cinta the beautiful Sumatran Tiger Cub
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Aug, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at London Zoo, Cinta was on of three Sumatran tiger cubs at the zoo at that time.Time
I took this photo around midday on the 29/01/2015. It was a reasonably dreary day and all 3 cubs and their mother, Melati, were sitting up on a ledge adjacent to the viewing area, a very rare occurrence. I was sitting less than a metre away from the cubs with just a pane of glass in between, and was so happy to be able to sit and watch them groom themselves, each other, relax and just generally be themselves in such close proximity to me.Lighting
It was a really dreary, cloudy day so I used the 'cloudy day' setting in-camera to warm the image slightly, and boosted the saturation post processing. The weather helped me capture the image as the tigers are usually hiding more on hotter, sunny days.Equipment
I used a Nikon d3200, f/4, 1/125 seconds, ISO 320 and a focal length of 70mm on a Sigma 70-300mm telephoto lens.Inspiration
I regularly go to ZSL London Zoo as I'm a fellow there, and the Sumatran Tigers have to be my favourite subjects. I'd only seen the cubs once before, and was gutted I didn't bring my camera when they were younger. I was so adamant to get some photos of them before they moved Zoos and kept going back to no avail. On the day when I saw them wandering up to the ledge, I sat myself down and stayed there for 2 hours, taking hundreds of photos and just enjoying watching them really. In all my time visiting them afterwards I never got that close again, so a lot of it came down to luck and the right place and the right time.Editing
In terms of post processing, I increased the saturation slightly and sharpened the image a little. I used the adjustment brush in Lightroom to highlight the background of the image and reduced sharpness, noise and clarity to give it a more 'blurred' appearance which helped to make the focal subject 'pop' more. I took the image before I started using RAW format, so my editing options were limited.In my camera bag
My camera bag has my Nikon D3200 with kit lens (35mm -70mm), my sigma 70-300mm telephoto lens and my Nikon VR 70-300mm lens. I also have a Raynox DCR 250 macro attachment for any insect photos I may take. I also have Hoya filter pack for each lens, though I've rarely used these yet. An extra SD card and battery are my essentials, and a lens cleaning kit on hand is always a bonus.Feedback
I find with wildlife photography, you need a huge amount of patience. You might be waiting there for an hour and they never really move or look in your direction. But patience usually does reward, in the case of this photo, I stood watching for 20 minutes whilst all the tigers were hidden, I was about to move on when they all decided to come and sit right in front of me, something I still smile at to this day. Also be prepared to take a LOT of photos. I end up deleting more each day than I keep, you can't control wild animals so expect a few blurred images or 'just missed' shots. At first I used to beat myself up over it, after reading how you should always aim to get it right in-camera first time, but I've since learnt just to accept it. So long as I come away with a few shots I like, it doesn't phase me. Finally, try watch the animals a bit first, see how they act and when it comes to taking photos, try to determine where they will move to and focus your camera there, they move fast and if you can predict their next move it's a lot easier to capture a good shot. If a monkey moves to climb around a tree, focus your camera the other side, so when he pops his head round briefly, you can press the shutter straight away.
