davegough
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken back in 2014, in Ranthambore National Park. We had been in India for a couple of weeks and had arranged to spend 4 days visiting the park to maximise our chance of seeing a Tiger. We had two drives each day and by the final day, we hadn't had a good sighting, lots of fellow guests had but we had just had fleeting glimpses. We were fairly disappointed but learnt that our pick up wasn't going to be until the following afternoon. Having managed to squeeze in an extra drive in the morning, it was our last chance.Time
The Jeep picked us up just before 7.00 am for the transfer to the park. This day luck was with us. We spotted 'our' Tiger just as he was about to settle down. The guide identified him as T28 called Star because of the marking over his left eye. We stayed with him for about an hour,before he went off to do Tiger things.Lighting
Star was trying to find a little shade and from the size of his stomach, we figured he had just had a fairly substantial breakfast. As we were settled in the Jeep, our shooting position was fixedEquipment
I used a Canon 550D with a 100-400 Canon EF lens. It was taken at f 6.3 for 1/320th sec at 340 mm& Hand held.Inspiration
My wife & I both love wildlife and had wanted to see a Tiger in the wild for longer than I care to remember. The trip to India gave us the chance to fulfil the ambition.Editing
There is very little processing, most of my wildlife tend to be 'warts and all' images. So just the very basic sliders in Photoshop and a small crop.In my camera bag
I changed the Canon 550D for a Canon 7D Mk1 but have recently bought a Sony A7 111.Feedback
Wildlife for amateurs like me is a matter of chance. You don't necessarily have the same time advantages of the pros. We were lucky with our tiger, had we have had an early morning transfer, we would have gone away disappointed. So make the most of your opportunities, do your research and make the most of the time you have