Once a common sight in areas all around the world, tigers have unfortunately now become a first-class endangered species, with the habitats they once thrived in and the ecosystems they once dominated increasingly at risk, too.

In order to raise awareness of the pressing need to protect tigers, as well as their habitats, Samsung Electronics teamed up with Discovery and Project C.A.T. (Conserving Acres for Tigers) to produce a documentary called ‘Eye to Eye With a Tiger’ shot using the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G.

Taking Initiative To Protect the Tiger’s Habitat

Tigers are the top predators of their food chain. They play a key role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, but due to illegal hunting and extensive habitat destruction, these majestic creatures are now being threatened with the danger of becoming extinct – a loss that stands to affect entire ecosystems.

Project C.A.T, started by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Discovery, is an initiative that promotes the preservation of remaining tiger populations’ natural habitats. This project currently supports nearly six million acres of tiger habitat across India, Bhutan and Russia, as well as providing support to local economies and climate justice for these marginalized communities. Understanding the importance of Project C.A.T.’s mission, Samsung has joined hands with Discovery to help raise awareness of this meaningful initiative.

As part of their partnership, Samsung and Discovery worked together with passionate local filmmakers to produce the remarkable collaborative documentary ‘Eye to Eye With a Tiger’ in order to bring these astounding creatures to viewers all over the world and shine a spotlight on the work these organizations are doing.

Eye to Eye With a Tiger, Captured by the Galaxy S21 Ultra

‘Eye to Eye With a Tiger’ was shot in Jaipur, India, and throughout the course of the documentary we follow wildlife photographer Yashas Narayan as he sets out on his journey to capture the most elusive big cat on the planet – the tiger. The documentary follows Narayan as he puts his experience in tracking and photographing tigers to use with help from his Galaxy S21 Ultra as he ventures deep into the wilderness of Ranthambore National Park in order to catch sight of this elusive creature – and provide viewers with some top tips for wildlife photography along the way.

Narayan, one of India’s foremost wildlife photographers, is not only united with the documentary’s award-winning director Vikram Singh through their passion for capturing their native country’s beauty, but also in their passions for nature, conservation and connecting with people. As showcased in the documentary, the pair enthusiastically took on the challenge of tracking tigers in Ranthambore National Park – notoriously a time-extensive process – harnessing the Galaxy S21 Ultra to capture some of the other brilliant wildlife they encountered along the way.

The documentary comes to a close as the pair finally manage to encounter a wild tiger and capture it in all its glory using the Galaxy S21 Ultra, an experience that is well worth all the challenges tracking the animal bring about. As well as being a fascinating look into tigers in the wild, ‘Eye to Eye With a Tiger’ not only showcases the quality camera experiences and flexibility offered to the filmmakers by the Galaxy S21 Ultra as they went about their journey, but also the scarcity of tigers in the wild these days, and the need to protect these creatures and the habitats they occupy.

Master Shooting Like a Pro With the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s Camera

Eagle-eyed viewers will be quick to spot that, throughout the course of the documentary, Narayan’s Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G comes in extra helpful for capturing not only the beauty of the tigers the team manage to encounter, but the other wildlife they come across along the way, too.

Not only is the Galaxy S21 Ultra a smartphone capable of capturing high-quality videos, such as the ‘Eye to Eye With a Tiger’ documentary, but is also the perfect tool for capturing those special moments in everyday life – in top quality.

Take a look at some of the top tips for subject photography as showcased in the ‘Eye to Eye With a Tiger’ film below.

1. Bring Faraway Subjects Right in Front of Your Eyes: Dual-tele Zoom & Space Zoom

With the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s powerful zoom functionality, you can zoom in on your subject to get that close-up shot either 3x, 10x or even 100x,¹ meaning that you’ll never miss a detail even when capturing objects in the distance.

2. Never Miss a Moment When Recording: 8K Video Snap

Thanks to the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 8K Video Snap feature, you can make sure that unmissable moment you’re recording is captured in both video and picture film for ultimate shareability. While recording, 8K Video Snap lets you capture the scene in front of you in both video and ultra-high-definition photo formats.

3. Adjust Every Detail Your Way: Pro Mode

The Galaxy S21 Ultra’s next-level camera comes with a function that helps even the most amateur of photographers produce high-quality shots – Pro Mode. Pro Mode lets you calibrate your camera’s shutter speed, contrast, saturation, ISO value and more manually, meaning that you can capture near-professional-level photos, all without the need for any external professional help or other equipment.

4. Capture Quality Video Like the Pros – With Just a Smartphone: Pro Video Mode

Not only does the Galaxy S21 Ultra offer a Pro Mode to those looking to capture high-quality photos, it also features the Pro Video function. Pro Video lets you adjust your camera’s resolution to a stunning 8K, as well as manage the camera’s focus to be on your desired subject when shooting and even choose which direction you are recording sound from as you go, so you can be sure that your video recording is as high-quality as Narayan’s during his journey to document the glorious tiger.

¹ 100X Space Zoom includes 10x Hybrid Optic Zoom and 100x digital zoom with AI Super Resolution technology. Zooming in past 10x may cause some image deterioration.

Tigers, lions, bears, giraffes, pandas, fennec foxes… These are some of the wild animals that live in Everland, the Land of Fantasy. Everland takes care of endangered animals by making sure that they are raised in an environment closest to their natural habitats and organizes a variety of ecological programs to help visitors learn about the importance of nature and all living things. To dive into the world of the mysterious world of animals, Samsung Global Newsroom has created its Online Zoo series by capturing the animals with various Samsung devices.

Today, June 21, is World Giraffe Day as designated by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF). This day was assigned to make collaborative efforts to prevent the extinction of giraffes, whose number is rapidly reducing, and to take some time to learn a bit more about these gentle giants. Considering the most characteristic feature of giraffes—their long necks—the GCF chose June 21 as World Giraffe Day as it is the summer solstice,¹ the longest day of the year.

Using some of Samsung Electronics’ most innovative devices, Samsung Global Newsroom followed the everyday lives of the twelve giraffes that live in Everland, from the story of the world record-breaking head of the giraffe family to the surprisingly belligerent nature of giraffes, and finally their charming yet subtle characteristics. Read on and take a look at the videos below to learn more about these gentle yet surprising creatures, and see if you can work out how the Galaxy S21 Ultra and The Sero TV made their way into the footage as you do.

The Most Famous Giraffe in South Korea

Giraffe matriarch Jang-Soon is living the life of a superstar who cannot escape the spotlight. Since making it into the Guinness Book of World Records for a special reason and becoming the most prominent giraffe in Everland, Jang-Soon’s conjugal harmony, silver wedding and other events have been reported on the news. The next giraffe to likely continue Jang-Soon’s legacy in the giraffe family has also come to the forefront. Who is this next contender for the leader of the superstar Everland giraffe family? Let’s find out by following a day in the life of Jang-Soon and her family.

Slow Yet Stealthy: the Hidden Abilities of Giraffes

“If you encounter a giraffe in the wild, don’t look back and run for your lives!” noted Jun-Yeong Park, Everland zookeeper who has been working with Lost Valley’s giraffe family for over 10 years. In fact, the giraffe is one of the top 10 strongest fighters among African land animals. ‘Cheong-Ryong’, the heaviest and strongest member of the giraffe family of twelve, in fact weighs 1.5 tons. If a giraffe harnesses its heavy body and starts kicking with full strength to defend itself, it is enough to break the skull or spine of a lion into pieces.

What’s more, their big eyes, each of which is the size of a tennis ball, grants them excellent eyesight and a visibility range of 4 to 7km, meaning that giraffes are very good at escaping from their enemies. Let’s learn more about some of the surprising physical characteristics of giraffes that are disguised behind their beatific eyes and relaxed gait.

The Longer the Neck, the Higher the Blood Pressure

One of a giraffe’s most characteristic features is its long neck, which is hard to see in one go even if you tilt your head as far as you can. Male giraffes engage in fights using their necks, known as ‘necking’, in order to compete for females, meaning that it is more advantageous to have a longer neck as it increases a fighter’s overall centrifugal force.

That said, as giraffes have to pump blood all the way to the top of their heads which sit 3m above their hearts, giraffes inevitably have high blood pressure, with their normal blood pressure being 270/180 mmHg. The blood pressure of the giraffe is two times that of the human, which is 120/80 mmHg, but nevertheless, giraffes manage to eat, drink, sleep and play with ease. So what is their secret?

Giraffes that group with others live longer than less sociable individuals, according to the team of researchers led by Professor Barbara König at University of Zürich. World Giraffe Day was designated to promote collaborative efforts to the end of preventing the extinction of giraffes. After enjoying this dynamic tale of Everland’s giraffe family captured in the Galaxy S21 Ultra and The Sero, let’s be sure to pay more attention to protecting these gentle giants.

¹ One of the twenty-four solar terms, the summer solstice has the longest day and the shortest night of the year.

But the beauty of Jeju doesn’t stop at its coastline. In commemoration of the United Nations’ World Ocean Day this June 8, a day set to appreciate and advocate for our globe’s oceans, Samsung Global Newsroom is taking a dive into the pristine waters surrounding Jeju along with the help of Dong-sik Kim, an acclaimed underwater documentary director, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra. This year’s World Ocean Day theme is “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods,” and so Kim headed underwater to capture the multifarious marine life that lies beneath the waves of Jeju.

Meet Dong-sik Kim, Seasoned Underwater Documentary Director of 39 Years

Dong-sik Kim is a professional underwater documentary director who has been bringing the diverse marine life of the world’s oceans to viewers for the past 39 years in order to help people answer the question, what is life really like beneath the waves?

Kim has devoted his life to making ocean documentaries that capture both the mystery and the beauty of the nature that thrives beneath the surface of our oceans in order to raise awareness of preserving our oceans. Kim is currently working on his latest documentary focusing on Jeju’s diverse marine life, including the island’s famous ‘hanyeo’ (female divers) and its dolphins, all the while highlighting the co-existence of human and marine life.

Given the nature of the subjects he is capturing, reducing the size of his shooting gear is important to Kim. “Instead of weighty gear, a slim and compact smartphone used to capture marine life can help close the distance with my subjects, reduce undue stress on marine life and help protect the environment,” noted Kim. “Shooting a documentary using the Galaxy S21 Ultra is definitely a new challenge for me!”

How to Film Underwater With the Galaxy S21 Ultra

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is an IP68-rated smartphone with outstanding dust and water resistant functionality for use in everyday life. When diving deep, however, a separate waterproof cover is required in order to most effectively harness the S21 Ultra’s camera while keeping the device safe from water exposure at great depths.

Once you’ve fitted your Galaxy S21 Ultra with its extra layer of protection, the ‘record’ and ‘stop recording’ functions become the only settings available for use, meaning that you will need to arrange your camera settings before commencing shooting underwater. For this shoot, Kim set his camera to wide-angled mode in order to properly capture those more active marine creatures like dolphins. Kim also opted for 8K resolution at standard-angled mode in order to take brilliant up-close shots of coral.

Fine-tuning your lighting levels is crucial to getting the best videos with your smartphone. If you are shooting using just natural lighting, you may end up with different results depending on what time of day it is. For underwater photography, early morning and late afternoon are considered the best times of day to shoot, and if low-light situations occur or you encounter ocean sediment, getting closer to the subject can help with the shot.

Online Aquarium Part 1: Jeju’s Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins

As many as 100 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins are estimated to live off of Jeju Island, living in groups that are generally around 5 to 15 in size but that can number up to 70. For these dolphins, enjoying acrobatic feats in the blue waters or harnessing a stray piece of seaweed as a toy is the best way to have fun.

Take a look at the powerful yet graceful movements of Jeju’s dolphins below, captured on the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Online Aquarium Part 2: Uncovering a Hidden World

The water temperature off of Jeju is around 1-2℃ higher than other mainland coastal regions, and with its clear water allowing sunlight to penetrate thoroughly, Jeju’s waters make the ideal habitat for a whole range of creatures to live harmoniously, including some tropical species.

Underneath the waters of Jeju lies a colorful and truly beautiful hidden world of life. Take a look at some of these fascinating creatures and their unique underwater lives in the shots below.

Here, a Jeju Balloonfish goes about its way unperturbed. Unlike other pufferfish, the Jeju Balloonfish is not poisonous – but it is almost completely covered in spikes, with the exception of its fins and tail.

In the above, a camera-shy octopus tries to hide between the rocks. Thanks to its excellent camouflage and mimicry capabilities, this creature is well-known as being the chameleon of the sea.

Found at a depth of 50m beneath the surface of the waves, the wide-eyed Scorpion Fish is found at a variety of rocky coastal areas around Korea, including the seas off of Jeju.

A Luna Lionfish shows off its dynamic fins and bold stripes. Known for its awe-inspiring patterns, this lionfish immediately captures attention with its imposing posture.

In Korean, the Spotted-Tail Morwong is known as ‘ahopdonggari,’ or ‘9 pieces,’ in reference to the nine vertical stripes that cover its body.

These Cocktail Wrasse inhabit rocky areas underwater covered with seaweed – the fish will wedge itself between a piece of rock or seaweed in order to get a good night’s sleep. The male of this species has a black-purple body coloring, while the female has a red-brown coloring.

Online Aquarium Part 3: Exploring an Underwater Tropical Rainforest

On the underwater cliff faces of Jeju’s sea sit breathtakingly beautiful corals, a sight that takes the aquatic landscape to the next level thanks to their vibrant color palettes. Over 160 species of corals can be found in the waters around Korea, and of the 126 found in Jeju, 90 of them are native just to the island.

The colorful colony that emerges when a coral reef forms almost resemble the birds-eye-view of a tropical rainforest found on land; take a look at some of these stunning underwater vistas, captured with the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

These delicate red soft coral colonies are known as the cherry blossoms of the sea, and are one of the most common types of soft-type corals found in the waters off of Jeju. They can be spotted with a range of red and yellow colorings, including light yellow, reddish yellow, orange and even pink.

Another common soft coral that can be spotted in the Jeju seas is the giant sea anemone, which comes together to form lumpy colonies.

These plant-like corals may not have flashy coloring, but the array of shapes they come in and the way they sway gently with the tides is certainly eye-catching. They might seem frail, but be careful – they contain poison that can cause burns to human skin.

These broccoli-like members of the Dendronephthya castanea species of coral come together to build a colony that resembles the springtime blossoming of flowers, complete with stems.

The flower sea fan is one of the most well-known fan-shaped corals. While they may appear thin and flexible, the sea fan’s protruding stems are surprisingly strong.

The Euplexaura crassa coral boasts the most vivid yellow color among all the corals found in Korea – while its rounded edges make it seem soft, it is in fact very resilient to breaking.

Ready to dive in and discover more about the astonishing marine life found beneath the waters of Jeju Island? Take a look at Kim’s video below, captured on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, to see more.