Who Needs a Towel?!?

Canon EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 200mm, Shutter Priority @ f/2.8 (1/1000 sec), +1/3 EV, ISO 400, Handheld, Full Frame, Captive Subject

Thought I'd give you a short break from our simian friends, although I'll be back with more primates soon enough ;^)

This shot was taken last month at my local zoo. Although generally I have an idea of which specific animals or birds I'm going to dedicate most of the day's shoot to, on this occasion I was with my wife, our daughter, and my mother-in-law, so I was happy to follow them around and leave things to chance.

By around two in the afternoon we found our way to the Big Cat complex, where most of the felines are in glass-fronted enclosures, which always makes photographing them something of a challenge. But there's one larger enclosure that houses a couple of Indo-Chinese Tigers, a large part of which is well out in the open with a deep trench separating them from the visitor's area.

Set in the middle of their enclosure is a manmade waterfall as well as a pool; of course this wasn't the first time I'd seen them, but I seldom take photos if they're anywhere near the water, as unfortunately the fabricated pool is made of blue plastic, which looks about as natural as a suit on a monkey ;^.

Anyhow, apparently at this time of day (not something I was aware of before) the keepers put on a bit of a show by attaching strips of meat to a small hook on a long piece of string that hangs from an even longer bamboo rod that, every now and then, they swing over the heads of the Tigers, who naturally then jump up a grab the snack as best they can.

Much as I appreciate the efforts they make at Khao Kheow to treat their animals with dignity and respect, shows of this kind designed for the entertainment of the visitors is not something I enjoy and ordinarily would steer well clear of. But my daughter and mother-in-law wanted to watch for a while, so there we were.

I'd actually set my mind on not taking any photos of this spectacle, but then one of the Tigers leapt into the water and suddenly all my moralistic views were shunted aside. Seeing the Tiger's coat saturated to such rich, vivid hues of orange and black set my mind racing with possibilities, and in a flash I was firing off shots from all sorts of angles.

At one point a piece of meat had fallen free of the hook and landed in the water. One of the Tigers didn't hesitate in submerging itself several times before coming up successful … and that's when the opportunity of the day presented itself: The full head and body shake with the Tiger's face looking directly at me! :^)

I got a good number of shots and some of them very pleasing, and although I'll probably post up one or two more I thought I'd show you this one first, as it's one of my absolute favourites :^)

This is full frame and aside from a few small tweaks the only major adjustment I made was in HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance), by shifting the Aqua and Blue sliders all the way to the left (-100) in all three, as well as Green in Saturation; in this way I was able to get rid of any signs of that horrible blue coloured pool as well as reduce the not-so-nice-coloured green hue of the water.

Bit of a long write-up I know, so thanks to those who've had the patience to read it all, and I promise the next one will be much shorter ;^)

Critique and comments of any kind are as always appreciated :^)