20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Sniff

Making an image involves a lot of work behind the scenes. choosing a guide and a driver, parking the car, observing the light, and comprehending animal behaviour. Every element is crucial to capturing the ideal moment. The dominant female, Choti Tara, who is sniffing the tree in lovely rim light, is in the picture. At dusk on a lovely winter evening in the Tadoba Tiger Reserve, we were fortunate to come across this stunning tigress guarding her territory. When she arrived at this tree, we were in the ideal spot. As the sun was directly behind her, she had a stunning rim light, which gave me the chance to capture this image of her sniffing the tree. The emotion that can be seen in the way she is smelling the tree and the addition of the golden light created by the combination of dust from other vehicles and the setting sun are what I find appealing about this picture.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 12.2021
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: Tadoba, India
Camera: NIKON Z 6_2
Copyright: © Narayanan Iyer