Thanks brihacharan Sir. I am glad you liked the snaps.
I use a Canon digital camera with a 75-300 mm lense for wildlife photography. I am no professional. It is only my love for wildlife and nature that pulls me to these places again and again.
I think Digital photography has made life easier for all of us. You don't like a snap --delete it and take another one.
I have already put up a snap of a Sambhar Stag earlier. Here are a couple of female Sambhar (beauties).
Wildlife Photography
Forum rules
PLEASE NOTE: There is currently a complete ban on Hunting/ Shikar in India. IFG DOES NOT ALLOW any posts of an illegal nature, and anyone making such posts will face immediate disciplinary measures.
PLEASE NOTE: There is currently a complete ban on Hunting/ Shikar in India. IFG DOES NOT ALLOW any posts of an illegal nature, and anyone making such posts will face immediate disciplinary measures.
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prashantsingh
- Poster of the Month - Aug 2011
- Posts: 1394
- Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:06 pm
- Location: India
Re: Wildlife Photography
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Nitro Express
- Almost at nirvana
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:09 pm
- Location: Assam
Re: Wildlife Photography
Prashant!prashantsingh wrote:It's always a pleasure to read your posts on elephants Nitro. You know everything about them and work so closely with them.Nitro Express wrote:
Wow! It's raining elephants in Corbett.Thats a fine bull elephant.
The bull in the picture is in good physical condition and seems to be in peak musth period.The female is being accompanied by her calf who seems to be around three years old.She probably is in estrous and is ready to mate, otherwise there is no reason for her to tag along with a bull in musth.
Nitro Express
It is actually raining elephants at this time in Corbett. In the winters they tend to migrate towards Rajaji National park .
Infact the tusker in Mast (by the river side) was actually with a decent group of females and calves. Here are a couple of snaps of the group.There were at least 4 adult females with him. Quite a Macho.
We saw another large group in the Dhikala grassland with at least 10 adult females and an equal number of calves. This one had 4 young fellows almost the same age. Cute little things.
I am totally in awe of your pictures.All the female elephants around the tusker in musth have calves who are around 3 to 4 years old.The tusker seems to be the service bull of the herd.Only females in estrous would hang around a bull in musth.From the picture it seems like the elephant nearest to the bull in musth is the mother and the rest her offsprings.One of who, may be her sub-adult daughter with an offspring of her own.
Nitro Express.
-- Tue Jun 21, 2011 23:31 --
Hello Shooter!shooter wrote:speaking of muast/mast.masth/musth, the pet elephants in jaipur used to have a very high proportion of attacks even by mast standards, let alone in working elephants.
More surprising as majority of these elephants were from the the stock of royal and noble families which were used for the kings ride and were the most docile ctock, not war stock.
It was common to read in newspaper about elephant going beserk.
I remember so many foreign scientists coming to study this phenomenon as the attacks were (ratio wise) off the charts.
Even some scientists from discovery channel came to study this.
Later they concluded these elephants were being literally being worked to death.
Now there is a strict system whereby one elephant may be ridden only once a day.
Scientifically speaking, let us replace the term pet elephants with captive elephants.
Elephants have been known to be aggresive and violent and kill humans even without being in musth.There are even records of extremly docile female elephants turning violent and killing people.There are many factors leading to this.Lets take the instance of the Jaipur elephants.
Previously ,whenever the royalty or the noble class use to own and keep elephants, it use to be bulls - tuskers to be more precise.These elephants usually were well fed and not worked or moved regularly.As a result, most of them use to come into musth cycle regularly.Since these were full grown adult males with little or no work at all, they use to become violent and uncontrollable during their musth period.Moreover, since two or more bulls were housed together it made things worse as the elephant in musth will try to break shackle and dominate other male elephants around him .Many a times in such situations experienced mahouts have lost their lives.
Now a days, most of the elephants in Jaipur are being used to carry tourists upto Amer Fort and back.This routine is mainly during day time under the sweltering sun.Elephants donot have sweat glands like us.Their only sweat glands are on their toes.They get heated up soon in such a situation.Moreover the heat from the ground starts hurting their feet.One day while being pushed like this it might think otherwise - stop taking commands and do the inevitable.Its a crime to actually work elephants beyond 10 am in summers.
Mark Shand the famous travel writer along with the late Maharani Gyatri Devi had floated an NGO named Elephant Family.Elephant Family has done a lot for the welfare of these elephants.
Nitro Express
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prashantsingh
- Poster of the Month - Aug 2011
- Posts: 1394
- Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:06 pm
- Location: India
Re: Wildlife Photography
And finally
"Tiger Tiger Burning Bright in the forests of the night.
What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry"
William Blake
I will talk about this in detail later.
"Tiger Tiger Burning Bright in the forests of the night.
What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry"
William Blake
I will talk about this in detail later.
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Nitro Express
- Almost at nirvana
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:09 pm
- Location: Assam
Re: Wildlife Photography
Please count me in on your next trip.prashantsingh wrote:And finally
"Tiger Tiger Burning Bright in the forests of the night.
What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry"
William Blake
I will talk about this in detail later.
Nitro Express
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prashantsingh
- Poster of the Month - Aug 2011
- Posts: 1394
- Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:06 pm
- Location: India
Re: Wildlife Photography
You are most welcome Nitro Express.
It will be a pleasure to "walk the jungle" with a person like you.
Unfortunately today there is a fine of Rs 5000/= for walking around in Corbett.
I have been visiting Dhikala with my grandfather ever since I was a kid. When there was only the Forest Rest house and a few Tents around it.When there were few tourists and when there was no fine for walking around.I can not count the number of times I have been to this place.
Corbett is the "Land of the Tiger".
Yet as luck would have it . I have never seen a Tiger (in the wild) in Corbett.
This snap is that of a male tiger (stuffed) in the Museum.
For lesser mortals like me to click , who can't get a glimpse of the majestic animal in flesh and blood.
I was there for three days (11th to 13thJune) and did not see him.
On the other hand there was a group of guys from Delhi (on their first visit to Corbett), living in a fancy resort outside; who drove in (in a Canter truck) for a 2 hour drive and spotted a tiger on 12th June barely 10 minutes inside the jungle.
Like all my previous trips to Dhikala. I came back dissapointed and complained to my father.
My father smiled and said
"Tiger to jungle ka devta hai. Tum tapasya karte raho. Jis din khush ho jayega . Darshan de dega".
That was enough motivation for me to plan my next trip once the park opens in the winters.
The pilgrimage continues..........
It will be a pleasure to "walk the jungle" with a person like you.
Unfortunately today there is a fine of Rs 5000/= for walking around in Corbett.
I have been visiting Dhikala with my grandfather ever since I was a kid. When there was only the Forest Rest house and a few Tents around it.When there were few tourists and when there was no fine for walking around.I can not count the number of times I have been to this place.
Corbett is the "Land of the Tiger".
Yet as luck would have it . I have never seen a Tiger (in the wild) in Corbett.
This snap is that of a male tiger (stuffed) in the Museum.
For lesser mortals like me to click , who can't get a glimpse of the majestic animal in flesh and blood.
I was there for three days (11th to 13thJune) and did not see him.
On the other hand there was a group of guys from Delhi (on their first visit to Corbett), living in a fancy resort outside; who drove in (in a Canter truck) for a 2 hour drive and spotted a tiger on 12th June barely 10 minutes inside the jungle.
Like all my previous trips to Dhikala. I came back dissapointed and complained to my father.
My father smiled and said
"Tiger to jungle ka devta hai. Tum tapasya karte raho. Jis din khush ho jayega . Darshan de dega".
That was enough motivation for me to plan my next trip once the park opens in the winters.
The pilgrimage continues..........
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essdee1972
- Veteran
- Posts: 1195
- Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2010 5:54 pm
- Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Re: Wildlife Photography
Recd this over the mail (from a site called digitalphotographyschool.com). Thought some of us amateur snappers might like it. Apologies if you have seen it before!
Cheers!
EssDee
The Importance of ‘Enough’ Depth of Field in Wildlife Photography
Posted: 06 Jul 2011 12:27 PM PDT
A Guest Post by Wildlife Photographer Elliot Hook
Depth of field is often discussed when reading about wildlife photography, usually with the emphasis on ensuring that a small enough depth of field is used to guarantee that the background is thrown out of focus to give emphasis to the subject. However, it is important to ensure that the depth of field you obtain is still large enough to render the entire subject in sharp focus – what good is an image that has a beautifully soft, distraction free background, if the subject itself is not in focus.
A red kite taken at a falconry centre, at 150 mm, f/5.6, from approx. 1m. Notice the softness of the tip of the beak and feathers on the top of its head, even though the eyes are pin sharp.Depth of field is controlled by a number of factors (aperture, focal length and distance to the subject) and to a beginner reading about wildlife photography, the overarching message will often be ‘the larger the aperture the better’ to achieve the classic wildlife shot with the soft background. Without an understanding of the depth of field that your camera and lens combination will achieve in a given situation, it may mean that you come back from a day of photography with a set of images that are disappointing when viewed on a large screen.
I am writing this from personal experience. My appreciation of aperture used to be limited to knowing that I needed to select the largest aperture possible to ensure I achieve the ‘most out-of-focus’ background. Also, increasing the aperture would often be my first port of call to remedy slower shutter speeds (as opposed to considering the ISO level) meaning that I would often find myself shooting at f/5.6 on my 300 mm zoom lens (not even considering the sharpness performance of the lens when used wide open – a subject for a whole other article).
Last year, I spent the day at Donna Nook, in Lincolnshire, UK, photographing grey seals. Little did I realise that when using an Olympus DSLR (2x crop factor due to the small sensor size), a focal length of 300 mm, and an aperture of f/5.6 to photograph a seal that was approximately 5 metres away, the resulting depth of field would be less than 5 cm. Considering the size of a grey seal, even if I managed to get my focal point spot on the eyes, there was no chance that the tip of the nose would be in focus, let alone the rest of the seal’s head. After what I thought was a fantastic day shooting, taking in excess of 500 photos, the number of images that I was actually happy with was fewer than 5!
It was after this experience that I found online depth of field calculators (apps also available for android and iOS users) that would calculate the depth of field for your camera, given a set of basic parameters – camera type, focal length, aperture and distance to the subject. Often used to calculate hyper-focal distances for landscape photography, the calculators can be incredibly useful for shooting wildlife too – it became evident to me that depending on how close the subject is, I could end up with a depth of field of less than 1 cm!
The blue tit, taken at 300 mm, f/10, from approx. 3 m. Bird and perch sharp throughout, with a diffuse background. To put my new found knowledge to the test, I started trying to take photographs of blue tits in my back garden. I had set up a perch at a distance of approximately 3 m from where I was sat. Using a focal length of 300 mm, I found that I needed an aperture of around f/10 to ensure a depth of field of approximately 4 cm. After some waiting, I managed to capture the shot I had been waiting for, a perfectly sharp blue tit, on a perch with a beautifully soft background, all using an aperture of f/10 – smaller than most tutorials for wildlife photography recommend.
This has fundamentally changed the way I think about my camera settings. I no longer plump for f/5.6 but always think about the magnitude of the depth of field I want to achieve for any given subject and adjust my aperture accordingly, with the confidence that I will still get the soft background I am after, but with a pin sharp subject that gives the resulting image even more impact.
Elliot Hook is an amateur wildlife and landscape photographer who never stops learning. He can be found at www.elliothook.co.uk
Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.
Cheers!
EssDee
The Importance of ‘Enough’ Depth of Field in Wildlife Photography
Posted: 06 Jul 2011 12:27 PM PDT
A Guest Post by Wildlife Photographer Elliot Hook
Depth of field is often discussed when reading about wildlife photography, usually with the emphasis on ensuring that a small enough depth of field is used to guarantee that the background is thrown out of focus to give emphasis to the subject. However, it is important to ensure that the depth of field you obtain is still large enough to render the entire subject in sharp focus – what good is an image that has a beautifully soft, distraction free background, if the subject itself is not in focus.
A red kite taken at a falconry centre, at 150 mm, f/5.6, from approx. 1m. Notice the softness of the tip of the beak and feathers on the top of its head, even though the eyes are pin sharp.Depth of field is controlled by a number of factors (aperture, focal length and distance to the subject) and to a beginner reading about wildlife photography, the overarching message will often be ‘the larger the aperture the better’ to achieve the classic wildlife shot with the soft background. Without an understanding of the depth of field that your camera and lens combination will achieve in a given situation, it may mean that you come back from a day of photography with a set of images that are disappointing when viewed on a large screen.
I am writing this from personal experience. My appreciation of aperture used to be limited to knowing that I needed to select the largest aperture possible to ensure I achieve the ‘most out-of-focus’ background. Also, increasing the aperture would often be my first port of call to remedy slower shutter speeds (as opposed to considering the ISO level) meaning that I would often find myself shooting at f/5.6 on my 300 mm zoom lens (not even considering the sharpness performance of the lens when used wide open – a subject for a whole other article).
Last year, I spent the day at Donna Nook, in Lincolnshire, UK, photographing grey seals. Little did I realise that when using an Olympus DSLR (2x crop factor due to the small sensor size), a focal length of 300 mm, and an aperture of f/5.6 to photograph a seal that was approximately 5 metres away, the resulting depth of field would be less than 5 cm. Considering the size of a grey seal, even if I managed to get my focal point spot on the eyes, there was no chance that the tip of the nose would be in focus, let alone the rest of the seal’s head. After what I thought was a fantastic day shooting, taking in excess of 500 photos, the number of images that I was actually happy with was fewer than 5!
It was after this experience that I found online depth of field calculators (apps also available for android and iOS users) that would calculate the depth of field for your camera, given a set of basic parameters – camera type, focal length, aperture and distance to the subject. Often used to calculate hyper-focal distances for landscape photography, the calculators can be incredibly useful for shooting wildlife too – it became evident to me that depending on how close the subject is, I could end up with a depth of field of less than 1 cm!
The blue tit, taken at 300 mm, f/10, from approx. 3 m. Bird and perch sharp throughout, with a diffuse background. To put my new found knowledge to the test, I started trying to take photographs of blue tits in my back garden. I had set up a perch at a distance of approximately 3 m from where I was sat. Using a focal length of 300 mm, I found that I needed an aperture of around f/10 to ensure a depth of field of approximately 4 cm. After some waiting, I managed to capture the shot I had been waiting for, a perfectly sharp blue tit, on a perch with a beautifully soft background, all using an aperture of f/10 – smaller than most tutorials for wildlife photography recommend.
This has fundamentally changed the way I think about my camera settings. I no longer plump for f/5.6 but always think about the magnitude of the depth of field I want to achieve for any given subject and adjust my aperture accordingly, with the confidence that I will still get the soft background I am after, but with a pin sharp subject that gives the resulting image even more impact.
Elliot Hook is an amateur wildlife and landscape photographer who never stops learning. He can be found at www.elliothook.co.uk
Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.
Cheers!
EssDee
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state. — Aristotle
Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight. ― Bob Marley
EssDee
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state. — Aristotle
Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight. ― Bob Marley
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brihacharan
- Old Timer
- Posts: 3112
- Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:33 pm
- Location: mumbai
Re: Wildlife Photography
Hi Guys,
> Talking about depth of field - is an option in WL photography.
> Meaning that if the plumage or coat of your object merges with the background - then its adviceable to throw the background out of focus - larger aperture.
> To choose the right aperture - most cameras have a 'Pre-View' button that shows how the pic will look when shot at that aperture.
> But then you have to compromise on the shutter speed - you need a steady hand / use a tripod + cable shutter release.
> The one advantage 'film' has over digital is that -
1. You can use a faster ASA rated film Eg. 400 / 800 or TPs & 1600 for negatives.
2. Also you can notionally rate your film to the next higher ASA & use 'Push Processing' to get the negative or TP.
> By doing this you may lose a bit of sharpness - but nevertheless get that once in a life time picture / shot.
> The print may look a bit grainy - but then it adds to the effect! Many pros do this.
> Incidentally Pros who shoot in digital do a lot of photoshop work on the final images.
Cheers
Briha
> Talking about depth of field - is an option in WL photography.
> Meaning that if the plumage or coat of your object merges with the background - then its adviceable to throw the background out of focus - larger aperture.
> To choose the right aperture - most cameras have a 'Pre-View' button that shows how the pic will look when shot at that aperture.
> But then you have to compromise on the shutter speed - you need a steady hand / use a tripod + cable shutter release.
> The one advantage 'film' has over digital is that -
1. You can use a faster ASA rated film Eg. 400 / 800 or TPs & 1600 for negatives.
2. Also you can notionally rate your film to the next higher ASA & use 'Push Processing' to get the negative or TP.
> By doing this you may lose a bit of sharpness - but nevertheless get that once in a life time picture / shot.
> The print may look a bit grainy - but then it adds to the effect! Many pros do this.
> Incidentally Pros who shoot in digital do a lot of photoshop work on the final images.
Cheers
Briha
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prashantsingh
- Poster of the Month - Aug 2011
- Posts: 1394
- Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:06 pm
- Location: India
Re: Wildlife Photography
Saw this one by the road side.
They have strong claws and tail.
For all my Maratha friends.
This is the animal Shivaji used to climb forts and cliffs during his guerrilla campaigns.
They have strong claws and tail.
For all my Maratha friends.
This is the animal Shivaji used to climb forts and cliffs during his guerrilla campaigns.
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Olly
- Veteran
- Posts: 1160
- Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:08 pm
- Location: Earth - GPS 28.35N; 77.12E
Re: Wildlife Photography
Met up with this guy in the Naval base INS Shivaji... was very happy to pose for me... !!
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skeetshot
- Eminent IFG'an
- Posts: 236
- Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2009 1:55 pm
- Location: Mongoli
When a Male cant stand it anymore !!
When a male can't stand it anymore !Priceless shot............
(A photographer will die of old age waiting to get another shot like this one.)
(A photographer will die of old age waiting to get another shot like this one.)
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dev
- Old Timer
- Posts: 2614
- Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:16 pm
- Location: New Delhi
Re: Wildlife Photography
Even a case load of whiskey can't convey the gratitude I feel towards you Prashant.
Hopefully, we shall raise a tipple when you come down to Delhi or maybe we will turn up at Dun and 'Jaan na pechchaan hum tere mehman.'
Keep em coming.
Hopefully, we shall raise a tipple when you come down to Delhi or maybe we will turn up at Dun and 'Jaan na pechchaan hum tere mehman.'
Keep em coming.
To ride, to speak up, to shoot straight.
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prashantsingh
- Poster of the Month - Aug 2011
- Posts: 1394
- Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:06 pm
- Location: India
Re: Wildlife Photography
Thanks dev. Dun is not far from Delhi......and we have better weather here.
Whenever you are in town, just give me a shout and we will meet up.
"Sau sonaar ki, Ek lohaar ki."
skeetshot . Your one snap is better than all of mine put together. All male chauvinist pigs would just love it.
Whenever you are in town, just give me a shout and we will meet up.
"Sau sonaar ki, Ek lohaar ki."
skeetshot . Your one snap is better than all of mine put together. All male chauvinist pigs would just love it.
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shooter
- Old Timer
- Posts: 2002
- Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 8:55 pm
- Location: London
Re: Wildlife Photography
spent the day at Donna Nook, in Lincolnshire, UK, photographing grey seals.
Sorry to go OT but this place is very close to where i shoot. It is not uncommon to see seals there. Sometimes they are beached and at others, swimming.
I dont have a good camera and even lesser skills with it. But the image of then captures in my minds camera is still fresh.
You want more gun control? Use both hands!
God made man and God made woman, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted. by Jose Gasset.
God made man and God made woman, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted. by Jose Gasset.
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archer
- One of Us (Nirvana)
- Posts: 325
- Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:15 pm
- Location: Los Angeles/Mumbai
Re: Wildlife Photography
Some Images from national geographic 2009 series (received via email)
Parag
Parag
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Yeh dil maange more.....!!!
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fantumfan2003
- Veteran
- Posts: 1497
- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:04 pm
- Location: Mumbai
Re: Wildlife Photography
Good Eye Contact.....
Nice....
M.
Nice....
M.
Olly wrote:Met up with this guy in the Naval base INS Shivaji... was very happy to pose for me... !!
[ Image ]
As an example of overcoming adversity, Karoly Takacs has few peers. He was part of Hungary’s world champion pistol-shooting team in 1938, when an army grenade exploded, crippling his right hand. Ten years later, having taught himself to shoot with his left, he won two gold medals in the rapid-fire class.
Darr ke aage jeet hai
Darr ke aage jeet hai