The first and most important thing to remember is to respect the wild animal. Don’t get too close to them. The welfare of the subject and your safety are equally important so make sure you maintain safe distance. Don’t hurry, it is a waiting game. If you want the perfect shot, be patient. Equipment plays an important role as you need to be ready when the moment is right. Learn the basics of photography and keep practicing to get better. If you are a beginner, you can set your camera on auto mode. An entry-level camera with a kit lens of 50-250 mm is good for beginners to try their hand at wildlife photography.

It will be Bandhavgarh as there you get to see them in their natural behavior.  I always have a good time capturing them on my camera doing the most natural things without being bothered about their surroundings. Wildlife photography requires one to be extremely patient yet prepared to capture the shot just as it happens. You have a window of about three seconds to get the shot or else you’ve missed it. But the planning and preparation stage is very important. When I shoot tigers, I have a guide and naturalist who help me frame the shot from the right angle. Being in the jungle, they know the behavior of the tiger. However, you need to be extremely patient. I have waited for days to get a good shot. Once on a full day safari, nothing happened till the end and then there was a fight between two tiger siblings that lasted for 10-15 seconds but I got to capture it on my camera. Another time, there was no action for five days and on the sixth day, I got to capture a hunt. So, it is a waiting game but you need to be prepared to be able to capture it when it does happen.

I did my Engineering degree at Malnad College of Engineering, Hassan. Hassan is located in the Western Ghats belt of India. I used to go trekking quite often there and that got me interested in nature and wildlife. I moved to Bangalore in 1995 for work and was soon part of a like-minded group of people who introduced me to wildlife photography. We used to frequent the forests of Kabini, Bandipur and BR Hills, as these were quite close to Bangalore. Thus developed my interest towards this genre, and I have been shooting wildlife ever since.

I plan my equipment for each safari based on the destination. Though I have an array of equipment, I may not be in a position to carry all of it. My main two lenses are the Canon EF 400mm f2.8 L IS II and the Canon EF 800mm f5.6 L IS along with the Canon 1DX and the Canon 1D Mark IV cameras. Though I would love to carry both all the time, I decide on one of them based on how and what I want to shoot. For certain destinations I may like to do a lot of close-up shots; for that I carry the 800mm. If it is action and nice portraits, then the 400mm f2.8 is my preferred lens. The standard lens I carry for all my tours is the Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 L IS II. This is one focal length every wildlife photographer needs to have. It’s fast and flexible for low light and animals in the habitat photography.

There are two important points to be noted to become a good wildlife photographer: You need to understand the fundamental concepts of photography: exposure, focusing, composition and execution. You need to move away from taking images and instead of making images. There is a huge difference between the two. Most of the images I make currently are with the concepts of pre-visualisation, where I frame the image in my mind and then execute it based on the opportunity I get. The second important aspect in wildlife photography is to become good naturalist first and then a wildlife photographer second. It is important to understand animal behavior and never cross the line. Understand why animals may be afraid and think about how you can eliminate that factor to make great images of the animals without causing any kind of stress to them. Remember, no image is worth compromising the safety of the subjects, and yourself. A lot of budding photographers come to me and tell me that they want to become like me. They also aspire to be famous, rich and sought-after photographers. The advice I give them is to never chase money or fame; it will eventually come to you, provided you become good at your work. I always advise this budding lot to channel their energy towards getting better at what they do and fame will be theirs. Just go with the flow and be diligent at what you do. Photography is about passion. Do this and you will cherish it for the rest of your life. [Tweet “Photography is about passion. Do this and you will cherish it for the rest of your life.”]

Nature itself is so amazing that I can spend the entire day in the forest without making a single image. The kind if surprises you get in nature and the number of things it teaches you is fascinating. The other important thing is – Wildlife is not just Tigers and Leopards. The behavior of every single living being in the jungle is different and needs to be studied. To be honest, I am not a Tiger person. I do not go into the jungles to look for Tigers or Leopards. So many times I have spent a lot of time with common subjects like Spotted Deer or Sambar Deers. Of course, the forests have the other favorite subject of mine – Birds. Many of the forest birds are so colorful that you forget about the worries or your concrete jungle and enjoy the beauty of nature. The joy of watching birds and animals in their natural habitat and observing their behavior arouse a lot of interest in nature. Capturing those moments and sharing with friends and family helped me to spread that joy of nature. My passion for wildlife grew and I got involved in a lot of conservation-related activities and projects. I contribute my images free of cost for this purpose and is used by a lot of NGO’s and other organizations all over the world. This makes me happy as I am able to contribute back to nature in a small way.  But above all, the ultimate inspiration is my own satisfaction of being one with nature!

Wildlife photography is all about opportunity. You need to be at the right place at the right time with the right kind of equipment & settings and with the right kind of people. There are multiple factors and challenges faced by any wildlife photographer: Getting a suitable vehicle with a knowledgeable naturalist/guide and an experienced driver in any of the National Parks and Sanctuaries is one of the biggest challenges a wildlife photographer faces. No matter what kind of equipment a photographer has, if the logistics is not proper, then you end up with no good photographs. Most of the action in Wildlife happens late in the evening, which means less light. In this situation you face challenges with equipment where focusing will be very slow and you may need to increase your ISO to get a decent shutter speed to capture any kind of action. Fortunately, with the improving digital camera technology, dealing with ISO is something which can be handled. But focusing speed is more related to the aperture of the lens being used as you need a lot more light to enter the camera for faster focusing to achieve. And that comes at a cost. To be a good wildlife photographer, you need to be a good naturalist and understand and follow the ethics of wildlife photography. With increasing affordability of DSLR camera equipment, the number of people aspiring to take up wildlife photography has increased dramatically over the years.  This has resulted in dilution of the ethics of wildlife photography, thus discrediting the entire community at times. From a financial standpoint, the cameras, lenses, and accessories along with travel are expensive. No matter how good you are at this, you cannot make a lot of money. It takes several years to build the credibility to make a mark in this genre of photography. The bottom-line of Wildlife Photography is – We are in it because we love it, not with the hope of making a lot of money.

There are two important points to be noted to become a good Wildlife Photographer: You need to understand the fundamental concepts of photography which include exposure, focusing, composition and execution. You need to move away from taking images to making images. There is a huge difference between the two. Most of the images I make currently are with the concepts of pre-visualization, where I frame the image in my mind and then execute it based on the opportunity I get. The second important aspect in Wildlife Photography is to become good naturalist first, and then, a Wildlife Photographer. As conveyed before, it is important to understand animal behavior and never cross the line. Understand the circle of fear and see how you can break that to make great images of the animals without causing any kind of stress on them. Remember, no image is worth compromising the safety of the subjects, and yourself.

Actual learning starts when you get down to what you like doing the best. For me, wildlife has always captured my attention. Nowadays I see that tigers have evolved a lot over the years. Their hunting patterns, the way they notice when people enter and leave their territory, all of these things have evolved a lot. For example, in Ranthambore, I have noticed that the Tigress leaves her cubs around to play and this distracts the deer. The deer send out signals to other deer to be aware that tigers are around. The tigress actually goes all the way to the back to attack the deer. So, these behavioral aspects are something that I have started understanding.

I believe social media offers a great platform to showcase one’s work. A lot of media houses are also scouting social media sites for content, and it is a win-win situation for both creators of such content and the curators and end-users. Offhand, I can recollect an incident where a guide/ naturalist in one of the tiger reserves captured a unique tiger-sloth bear encounter video and posted it on a social media site. This went viral and garnered so much visibility that a top international channel paid him a substantial amount to air it on their channel. It was also reliably learned that the video earns him a sizeable income after being uploaded on a popular video sharing site. While the video is just an example, the same is also true of photographs.

What I tell most youngsters, not just photographers is to do what they love the most. If I were to specifically give advice to photographers, that would be to master their basics first; this can be done even with basic, entry-level equipment. I have always discouraged the obsession for expensive, high-end equipment. I also emphasize the need to follow ethical practices; this is all the more relevant in wildlife photography, where we shoot in sensitive, protected areas. I make it very clear to my participants that subject welfare is far more important than getting good shots.

For me, personally, every image is an award winning shot if it meets the some of the following criteria: Capturing an image which represents the wildlife in their natural habitat and does not show any kind of undue stress on the animal. The image should convey a story and a message. It has to be a natural history moment. It has to be unique and out of the box. The photo need not be a close portrait of the animal. An image showing the habitat and convey the mood of the forest / environment

Equipment upgrade is one of the hottest topics of discussion between photographers. I started with a very old German camera. Complete manual exposure and it had split focusing mode for focusing. My first DSLR was gifted by my twin sister – the Canon EOS Elan IIE and 75-300 IS lens. Later my wife gifted (50%) me the Canon 100-400 L IS Lens. Then the rest of the upgrade followed -> Canon 10D-> Canon 30D -> Canon 1D Mark III -> Canon 1D Mark IV and finally now I use the Canon 1DX. On the lens part, it has been 100-400 -> Canon 500mm f/4L IS -> Canon 800mm and finally included the Canon 400mm f2.8 L IS II to my kitty. I started the first lens rental in India for wildlife photographers (based out of Bangalore) that opened up the Pandora box where I had all the key L series lens from Canon which I could use based on the requirement.

Wildlife photography is all about opportunity. You need to be at the right place at the right time with the right kind of equipment & settings and with the right kind of people. There are multiple factors and challenges faced by any wildlife photographer: Getting the suitable vehicle with a knowledgeable naturalist / guide and an experienced driver in any of the National Parks and Sanctuaries is one of the biggest challenges a wildlife photographer faces. No matter what kind of equipment a photographer has, if the logistics is not proper, then you end up with no good photographs. Most of the action in Wildlife happens late in the evening, which means less light. In this situation you face challenges with equipment where focusing will be very slow and you may need to increase your ISO to get a decent shutter speed to capture any kind of action. Fortunately, with the improving digital camera technology, dealing with ISO is something which can be handled. But focusing speed is more related to the aperture of the lens being used as you need a lot more light to enter the camera for faster focusing to achieve. And that comes at a cost. To be a good wildlife photographer, you need to be a good naturalist and understand and follow the ethics of wildlife photography. With increasing affordability of DSLR camera equipment, the number of people aspiring to take up wildlife photography has increased dramatically over the years. This has resulted in dilution of the ethics of wildlife photography, thus discrediting the entire community at times. From a financial standpoint, the cameras, lenses and accessories along with travel are expensive. No matter how good you are at this, you cannot make a lot of money. It takes several years to build the credibility to make a mark in this genre of photography. The bottom-line of Wildlife Photography is – We are in it because we love it, not with the hope of making a lot of money.

There are two important points to be noted to become a good wildlife photographer: You need to understand the fundamental concepts of photography: exposure, focusing, composition and execution. You need to move away from taking images and instead to making images. There is a huge difference between the two. Most of the images I make currently are with the concepts of pre-visualisation, where I frame the image in my mind and then execute it based on the opportunity I get. The second important aspect in wildlife photography is to become good naturalist first, and then a wildlife photographer second. It is important to understand animal behaviour and never cross the line. Understand why animals may be afraid and think about how you can eliminate that factor to make great images of the animals without causing any kind of stress to them. Remember, no image is worth compromising the safety of the subjects, and yourself. A lot of budding photographers come to me and tell me that they want to become like me. They also aspire to be famous, rich, and sought after photographers. The advice I give them is to never chase money or fame; it will eventually come to you, provided you become good at your work. I always advise this budding lot to channel their energy towards getting better at what they do and fame will be theirs. Just go with the flow and be diligent at what you do. Photography is about passion. Do this and you will cherish it for the rest of your life.

Photography, in general, is all about pre-visualization and planning. Most of my images are pre-visualized and well planned and I go after those concepts/subjects and execute. There is a huge difference between taking images and making images. Anyone can take an image, but to make an image require a lot of knowledge, both on the technical aspects of photography and your subject. There are more than 10 different tasks you have to do before releasing the shutter. Some of it has to be done in advance (like exposure setting and most of the camera settings) and the rest, which is composition, will depend on the kind of subject and opportunity you get. There are various factors involved in isolating your subject and capturing it – The equipment being used, your distance from the subject, the angle of approach, the background associated and the kind of subject being photographed. One of the key aspects in Wildlife Photography is to understand the behavior of your subjects. The circle of fear is part of that. Once you are able to break that circle of fear and the animal knows you are not a threat, it will continue its normal business and that helps to capture the behavioral aspects. All animals do display emotions, especially when they are in a group. Patience and perseverance are keys to capturing these emotions.

My “Tiger Siblings and Gaur” has been my all-time favorite image. Many of my friends who are into Wildlife mention that it’s probably the best Tiger image photographed in India. It was photographed at Lakvalli Forest Range, Bhadra Tiger Reserve. Sighting a few Spotted Deer was itself a challenge in this forest during those times. We were lucky to sight the Tigers and the Gaur and their interaction. For more images and the complete story — Tale of Two Tigers and a Herd of Gaur The images proved to be of extreme importance from a conservation point of view when Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) discovered that one of the Tiger had travelled all the way from Bhadra to Dandeli Anshi National Park over a distance of 270 Km. This was the first time in history of Tiger study that photographic evidence was there to support that a Tiger could actually travel over such long distances. It was believed that the home range of Tiger was 60 sq km. This opened avenues of study, because there was human habitat en route and the Tiger could not have travelled as the crow flies.

There is a very thin line between image correction and manipulation. I have been doing photography for close to 20 years and started with black & white photography during my college days. I have spent time in the darkroom developing and processing the film negatives. In today’s digital world, that dark room is basically your computer where you need to process your images. The dynamic range of the camera is limited by the sensor technology, whereas our human eyes can perceive a much larger dynamic range. As the term says, RAW is literally RAW – It’s a data file and not an image file, unlike jpeg. You need to process that RAW data to get the RGB values to match to what you saw in the field. And that’s where image processing comes in. My fundamental principle of processing is to show what was seen in the field – nothing more, nothing less. There may be occasions where you may have to remove a distracting twig or play around with the image to show the details in a better way which could not be captured in the field due to various factors. Of course, if you start manipulating your images beyond the normal adjustments, then it is no more photography but digital art. But again, there is nothing wrong in doing so if that is your line of interest. In the end, photography and processing are subjective and you want to please yourself.

Having started wildlife photography around 1995-96, I would frequent the forests around Mysore almost every month. However, it was a good 10 years before I sighted a tiger in the wild. That day is still etched in my memory. On October 25th, 2006, during a routine safari at the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, we spotted a herd of gaur, which I wanted to photograph. When I requested the driver to stop the jeep, he asked me what I wanted to shoot. On hearing I wanted to shoot the gaur, he pointed to the two tigers right by the jeep track. My jaw dropped on seeing the two sub-adult tigers staring the gaur in the eye! It was a wildlife moment that I will cherish forever; the image remains one of the best and most unique tiger images shot in a South Indian jungle.