Photographing Tigers in Ranthambore

Ranthambore, the Indian tiger capital, the focus of tiger enthusiasts and conservationists world over, needs no introduction. In the last thirty years of its existence as a tiger hotspot for tourists and researchers alike, the park has created many great stories, of legendary individual tigers, of wildlife warriors among the park officials, an environment of co-existence between man and big cat, a case of community benefitting from the thriving of cats in their backyard, sad phases of rampant poaching and people that helped overcome these dark times.

Today, thanks to the effort of the Indian wildlife department with support from conservation giants like the World Wildlife Fund, active there with their Tiger Landscapes Program, village volunteers, certain dedicated NGOs in the spheres of alternative employment and women empowerment and the overall cooperation and the enthusiasm of the people living around the park, the main stakeholders, the story of Ranthambore and these tigers continues and will run on for many years to come with the efforts of these dedicated bodies.

I have been leading Natural Habitat Adventure summer trips in Ranthambore for the past four years. Before this I used to work in other tiger parks in India like Satpura and Kanha as a naturalist at various lodges focusing on tigers among other wildlife, both great and small. I had heard of Ranthambore earlier (obviously) and even visited the park once briefly but never spent enough time to experience the community and various tiger families that call this place home. Photography and videography has always been a keen interest of mine, as it helps me communicate my stories in a more effective and impactful way. I had been photographing tigers in the various parks (and non-park areas) of India even before my time as an Expedition Leader for Wandering Gliders. But nothing could prepare me for the phenomenon that was Ranthambore.

Our trips to Ranthambore are timed to perfection. They start in April, with the onset of the hot summer months, and extend all the way till June, ending just before the monsoon showers arrive. Why do we go to this park in such hot and dry conditions? There are many reasons for this. Firstly, the waterholes are limited and usually are restricted to a select few that are built by the forest department apart from some natural springs. In the case of most other big cats this is not a big difference maker but for tigers, it is key. The hot temperatures force these cats to cool off by partially immersing themselves in these water bodies, at least once a day, thus bringing them out into the open to these water bodies that are few and broadly spaced out. The absence of dense foliage makes visibility better, giving better viewing angles through the otherwise dense undergrowth and tree cover. Apart from these two, the very fact that the tigers are territorial, creatures of habit and their bold nature, owing to families being used to tourist vehicles for many generations, makes this park, these tigers and this time of the year, a perfect combination.

The lack of foliage and water sources also increase the chances of encounters with the lesser seen denizens of the wilderness. These animals are forced to share space with the tigers in these times of water scarcity thus increasing the chances of coming across these animals on the tiger searches. The displaying peacocks are a beautiful distraction as they perch on prominent rocks, flat land or ruins at the edge of water to display their beautiful plumes and attract the females before the onset of the rains.

So now that we are here in the park during these golden months, what next. We drive into the parks morning and evening with the hope of watching the Ranthambore tigers do what they do best, put on a great show. It happens at times but sometimes, they choose to remain elusive. One must remember that despite all the perfect conditions mentioned earlier, we are still talking about elusive wild cats that have a mind of their own. It comes down to the ‘luck of the day’ as most would say it.

This article is not meant to discuss the viewing of tigers but rather it is meant for those instances when we have these tigers around us - the photography aspect of the journey. How can one maximize these opportunities and take back unique memories of their encounters. One must have come across many images of tigers online, including the Ranthambore tigers. A simple online search produces hundreds if not thousands of results. One stark feature of these images hit me very hard at the end of my first season at Ranthambore. MOST OF THESE IMAGES ARE VERY SIMILAR. In fact, everyone is so keen on getting the perfect tiger picture with the subject in focus and a beautiful background blur that the story, the landscape, the excitement and the various other elements that made the encounter special or unique, is lost.

Let me say at this point that photography of tigers in Ranthambore is not achieved only by the use of heavy equipment and great lenses. An iphone can do an equally fantastic job if handled in the right way. From my second season onwards, I started talking more about extracting more from the photo opportunities than just letting guests click a thousand images that look similar to each other and also similar to many others that are seen on the internet. My most memorable trip was the one where I forced myself to just carry a 16mm wide angle lens. It was fantastic!!!

Tigers in Ranthambore are seen in various habitats, scenarios and in different modes of action. They can appear as close as a few feet from the vehicle but also sometimes be moving well inside the woods with only a glimpse of a tail swish or a patch of fur visible momentarily. It is amazing how they appear and disappear right in front of our eyes despite the fact that the landscape is relatively open and many eyes are resting on every movement of that cat.

My general advice for the first encounter is to watch. Watch and observe. And then click images to the heart’s content. Emulate all the ideas of perfection as shown by the online images. Click as many images and arrive back at camp with the sense of success and achievement. We will start playing around with our cameras after this. I follow the same protocol myself too, every season.

I believe in photo stories, mammal-scapes and the power of patterns. For a cat as beautifully patterned as the tiger, living in a world of beautiful landscapes and each encounter being a beautiful story, this shouldn’t be hard. It only requires a little thought and patience.

For example, we had a beautiful encounter of a tiger in a gorge below, possibly at a distance of 200 metres from us. We had no access to get close to these tigers. But, we did have the unique opportunity to get angles of the cats in habitat from above. The kind of image that is seldom seen, even on an online search.

Close encounters are best brought about by a wide angle lens, an iphone or a gopro. Like in one instance, we came across Sultana, a tigress, hunting at the banks of a lake one evening. We had her on one side and the prey, the sambar deer, on the other. She had come right past us to get to the sambar that were feeding and cooling off at the water’s edge. We decided to go at it with our wide angle lenses and small cameras. As predicted, she came right past us, stalking and then later taunting the deer out of the water, all of this with the tiger a few feet from us and the background of deer running. A person with a big camera would have clicked perfect tiger images as she ran across the meadow but the other elements of the story, the landscape, the deer, the setting sun and the chase, would’ve been lost.

One hits the jackpot when the cats decide to rest in the open. This gives one the rare opportunity to experiment with all angles and perspectives with the luxury of time. Very often, we discuss these perspectives in the jeep and interesting new stories are brought about, which many of us would not have thought about, if we were clicking without thought. Low key lighting, high key lighting, low shutter, compositions, close-ups, wide angles and sometimes, even blur shots with obstacles in front are experimented with. At this point I’d like to say, foliage is beautiful, if used effectively, it can make a much more compelling image than a clear shot of a cat in the open.

Story telling via an artistic medium has been the most powerful tool over the recent years and conservation is no different. Big cat photography is an art, and the best execution of this art by many dedicated and popular wildlife photographers have had major impacts on the way the wild cats are perceived world over. It has taken many years to do away with the tags of dangerous, vicious, aggressive and blood thirsty, and this was achieved to a great extent by photographs.

In our case, we may not need to think that far ahead when we photograph tigers. It can continue to remain an art form we enjoy and a means to take back beautiful memories from ‘that hot Indian summer’. With a little thought and patience, those photographs can create more than just memories, they can tell their own compelling story. And who knows, it may just be the next one on awareness and conservation, the need of the hour.