[Leica] Bandhavgarh and Kanha

[hlritter at bex.net (Howard L Ritter Jr)]

That?s a beautiful collection of wildlife shots, Jayanand. I?m impressed by 
how close you were able to get to the tigers, and without any hint in the 
images of the fact that you were in a protective vehicle, on a road, or in a 
wildlife preserve. Very natural.

"Tiger, tiger, burning bright?" What would Blake have made of your ability 
to capture his animals in the forests of the day?


?howard

> On May 3, 2022, at 1:52 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG <lug at 
> leica-users.org> wrote:
> 
> I had gone to the National Parks, and prime tiger reserves, of Bandhavgarh
> and Kanha last month as my first outstation trip post covid. The weather
> was extremely hot, with the mercury touching 42/43C, and the full day
> safaris that we undertook, on open top vehicles, were tiring. However
> thanks to constant hydration with water, chaas and  lemon juice, I seemed
> to have sailed through with no after effects. I was quite surprised at my
> own resilience. I have not posted for a long time, but this seemed a
> fitting occasion to resume!
> 
> I was testing a lot of new equipment on this trip - the Nikon Z9, the
> Nikkor Z100-400mm f4.5-5.6S and the Nikkor Z24-70 f2.8S. As  it was they
> performed flawlessly, and the AF eye tracking mode on the Z9 was nothing
> short of magical. As an example, a male tiger walking behind grass, part of
> a burst of 6 shots:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-067.jpg.html
> 
> The Z24-70 f2.8S is, without a doubt, the best normal zoom I have ever
> owned, so let us start with two photographs taken with that lens, mounted
> on a Nikon Z7:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220427-067-Editb.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-045-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Because of the intense heat, all animals were looking for cool places to
> rest in:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Bandhavgarh-20220422-351-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Of course, waterholes were popular places in late afternoon:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220425-1765-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> The Z9 has exceptional high ISO performance if the frame is exposed
> correctly. As you will notice, none of my photographs in this set taken
> with the Z9 are at low ISOs. However, here are two examples at ISO12800 -
> the first one from late in the evening after sunset, and the second being
> early in the morning as the sun was coming up:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220425-1565-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-359-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Two shots of a male that came out of a thicket:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-1545-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-1533-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> This same dominant male, a huge fellow, was following the scent of a
> tigress, when he came upon our vehicle! These shots were at under 200mm:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-1463-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-1731-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-557-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> A vigorous shake of the head when on patrol:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220426-470-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> To round things off, some raptors. The first two are of two different
> Crested Serpent Eagles with its prey:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Kanha-20220427-1056-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Bandhavgarh-20220422-289-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> The last one is a portrait of a Changeable Hawk Eagle:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Kanha/Bandhavgarh-20220423-940-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Please see LARGE, I have posted in a reasonably big size.
> 
> Comments and criticism, as ever, are welcome!
> 
> Cheers
> Jayanand
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> .