Sumatran Tiger

[skokkin]

Hi all,

This here is a shot I took a while ago but I am finally starting to ask people to critique my work.

Sumatran Tiger | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

EXIF
Canon 350d
Canon 70-300mm @ 75mm
f/4
1/80 second exposure
ISO 200
No flash

This here is a photo of a Sumatran Tiger on exhibit at Toronga Park Zoo in Sydney. I had a few factors affecting composition, some being a large crowd of people as it was taken on school holidays, the glass windows because of reflections, plus my family wanting to rush off to find the next animals, so I didn't have a great deal of time to compose the shot.

What I want to know is if I have captured the essence of this magnificent cat stuck in captivity, looking back at all the people looking at it, as it was prowling the front of the enclosure. This has been an all time favorite shot of mine for years and has lived as a desktop background ever since.

I would have loved to get some more of the animal in the shot but I believe that a crowd of heads took something away from the picture so I took these out while composing the shot as I was also working on "taking pictures of animals in captivity but making it look like they aren't" at the same time.

Any other critique on any other aspects of this picture would also be helpful.

Shaun

[Dodge]

Hi Shaun,

What a wonderful shot. Nice and sharp and lovely rich warm colours. You certainly achieved what you set out to do, and under considerably difficult conditions.

If being hyper critical, and really, i mean very hyper critical considering;

1 it's a wild animal and unpredictable,
2 it's in a zoo with people getting in the way

my only criticism would be that the dark line on the right hand side breaks him, but for me, not to the point of distraction. (i find the little leaf at the bottom actually more distracting, but that could be easily fixed).

To be honest, i find myself looking for criticism for the sake of it, since the idea is to offer criticism, but it is very hard with this pic. Heck, if it's large enough to crop the sides into a portrait, I doubt i'd personally find anything at all.

First impression for me speaks volumes, and my first impression was 'Wow, very nice'. You undoubtably caught the essence of the tiger.

[skokkin]

Dodge,

Thanks for the critique, or lack there-off.

The black stripe down the shot was a seal between two sheets of glass fronting the enclosure and I originally left it there as I felt that it added a little something before the main subject.

I never actually gave cropping the shot in portrait a consideration untill you mentioned it, and I've added a link to this shot done in portrait, however I'm unsure how tight I really want it.

Sumatran Tiger 2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Shaun

[Dodge]

Hi again Shaun

Love the crop, possibly give him a bit more room on the right hand side to centre his eye a little more if anything. Some negatice space to his right face shouldn't hurt as he's looking that way.

Personally though, (and of course it is just a personal preference) I find the cropped version a lot more imposing. It would be interesting to see what others think.

I guess that's the beauty of it though, especially with such a great shot, you never have to choose one over the other as you can have both

[PrimeTime]

I think it is way over saturated. IMO , natural looking colors are very important in wildlife photography.

[Vernian]

I think its beautiful just the way it is. Really useful as a critique, I know ;-) The cropped version seems a bit more majestic, though I would give him a touch more space on the right hand side. The colours are very vivid which I personally quite like, I think it ads to the mood of this proud cat.

[skokkin]

Thanks for all the critique guys.

I did increase the saturation in this shot to bring out the orange of the tiger more, as I felt it was too bland before.

In regards to the 2nd crop, I cropped it like this because I still wanted at least a little bit of space to the left of the tiger and trying to pull it out to have more negative space on the right created too much above the tiger.

Thanks again for the critique.

Shaun