Pro insight from Andy Rouse

Andy Rouse on how to boss big cats

In my new book, Noor: Queen of Ranthambhore, Aditya ‘Dicky’ Singh and I talk about Noor’s killer look. It enabled us to get relatively clean and good portraits of her as she looked right at us. When taking portraits, the trick is to keep everything simple: the main subject must be the highlight. Dicky and I have learned to be flexible when we photograph tigers: sometimes they’re close, sometimes far away, so I use a combination of the Canon EOS-1D X Mk II and EOS 5D Mk IV bodies, with lenses including a 24-70mm, 100-400mm, 200-400mm and 500mm.

First, you need a decent depth of field to get sharpness from nose to ears, balanced with the need to keep the background relatively diffuse. One trick to help this is to shoot parallel with the subject, neither up nor down. Another is to always use the biggest lens you can to flatten the facial features and to keep that background at bay. This portrait was shot at 400mm with an aperture of f/11; the Depth of Field Preview button was used to ensure that f/11 didn’t include too much background. Eyes need to be wide-open, not half-closed or with shadows. This means shooting either in low light or in diffused light, such as cloudy days or under a tree canopy. This is perhaps one reason why portraits of tigers are so tough to get. Noor: Queen of Ranthambhore by Andy Rouse and Aditya ‘Dicky’ Singh is on sale now, priced £40, via www.andyrouse.co.uk