INTRODUCTION | PHOTOGRAPHIC GEAR | TECHNIQUE | TRACKING WILD TIGERS | SAFETY & RESPECT

PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE

When you encounter a tiger for the first time, you will need to concentrate a lot in order to calm you shakes and nerves. My advice would be to take a couple of shots for prosperity, but put the camera down and just watch this majestic animal for the first time. Don’t deny your memory of such an event. You will thank me for it.

I have bought lens and camera covers from Wildlife Watching Supplies and these do a reasonable job of protecting my kit. I still give everything a thorough clean every evening when I return from the park. The dust is very fine and can interrupt the contacts between the camera and lens, locking out the camera and giving you errors at the worst possible moment. You could wrap the camera in a towel or even blankets which are often issued to lodge guests during the chilly.

ACTION

I always have my camera in AV or Aperture Priority mode unless I am dealing with dappled shade (see below). AV mode gives me complete control over depth of focus and shutter speed. If a tiger has paused and there is the opportunity for a good portrait, then I will dial in an F8-F10 so there is a good range of focus from the tiger’s muzzle to its ears. But if the tiger suddenly starts running, I can dial in an F2.8 for extra-fast shutter speed to freeze the motion.

LIGHTING

Lighting is a real issue. In five years I can only remember a handful of situations where the tiger was in bright clear sunlight. These situations are remarkably difficult to come by. Mostly, your view of a tiger will be in either very low light, high-contrast and dappled shade, or almost completely obscured by bamboo. If the tiger is obscured by bamboo, is it worth taking a photo? Probably not, so just sit back and watch. I do.

Low Light

In low light you will have to be rock steady and try to wait for the tiger to stop moving. If you are in a jeep, they will often cut the engine when they stop. So rest the beanbag on the side of the jeep or on the roll bars. You could try being more creative and attempt ‘motion panning’. This uses a slow shutter speed - around 1/30th sec. The idea is to pan side-to-side with your upper body at the same speed and direction as the tiger. It sounds a bit simple, but it is much harder to master than you can imagine. The results can be brilliant, but are often only fit for the bin. But at least you tried to make the most of the situation!

Contrast & Dappled Shade

This is probably the most common situation and where I believe that digital camera’s win over film. My method is quite straightforward. I take a test shot of the scene and compensate the exposure so the highlights are only just blinking. What you don’t want to see is great blotches blinking with over-exposure. Small speckles are fine. Memorise the exposure setting, i.e. 1/125th at F5.6. Now enter these details into your ‘Manual Program’ mode if you have one. Now you can quite happily shoot away knowing that everything is of the same exposure. But you still have to be mindful if the tigers move, or the elephant changes location. Keep an eye on your histogram and review screen and adjust where necessary.

If you don’t have a Manual Program, then you will need to understand how to ‘manually compensate’ your exposure. This comes back to knowing your kit before you arrive. Your camera’s metering system will treat the scene as an average. If the shadow outweighs the highlights then they will be over exposed and ‘burnt out’. You will need to manually reduce the exposure to compensate. Conversely, if the highlights outweigh the shadow you will have an overly dark, under-exposed image.

FLASH

Most National Parks have banned the use of flash in order to avoid any adverse reaction from the tiger. It is quite right to assume that one flash, carefully used, will not do any harm. But flashes are not carefully used and there could be 40 or more. I am sure that the ‘paparazzi strobe’ effect would be more than enough to instigate some kind of reaction from a tiger! You may be able to get away without attracting to much attention if your flash is in built. But these tend not to be very powerful with a range of only a couple of metre. In any case, flash can cause unwanted effects such as green eye which is similar to the red eye in people photos, but much more difficult to remove digitally.