Humpback Whale

[Joe Brown]

Taken in the Bay of Fundy off Nova Scotia.
5D Mark II, 70-200mm f4.0 IS,
150mm, f8.0, 1/1000, ISO 400,
C&C welcome

Joe

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Joe, I like the non-traditional COMP here with the whale in the upper third of the VERT frame. The light is perfect for the subject as was the grey day. Did you have many chances?

[Joe Brown]

Thanks very much Arthur. The whale was spotted breaching at some distance and continued to repeatedly breach until got within shooting range. I was lucky to get a couple of good shots on one of its final breaches. We continued to follow it for about an hour getting some fin and fluke shots. This was my first time shooting whales and found shooting from a 25foot Zodiac in a medium sea quite challenging.

Joe

[David Fletcher]

He, he... bet you did find it challenging Joe. :D. Man, congrats for what you do have. What an experience. Thanks for sharing this.

[Sid Garige]

I like the non-traditional comp too. Looks like you handled the challenging shooting conditions very well.

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent image , lovely compo and TFS image & experience

[Marc Mol]

Great opportunistic shot Joe, the arching back with both fins visible, perfect!
TFS

[Ken Watkins]

That's wonderful, I would love the opportunity to see one of these that close.

Travelling for a long time in a Zodiac is for me disconcerting, uncomfortable and cold very challenging. Then when you get there you are moving up and down perched on what is the equivalent of a tyre inner tube

[Joe Brown]

Travelling for a long time in a Zodiac is for me disconcerting, uncomfortable and cold very challenging. Then when you get there you are moving up and down perched on what is the equivalent of a tyre inner tube

Thanks Ken for viewing and your comments.

What you say Ken is very true. The advantage of the Zodiac over a more traditional whale watch boat like the one shown above is that the zodiac is much faster and more maneuverable. In the Zodiac we were able to cover lot more area and were able to find whales the other boat couldn't and the pilot of the Kodiac kept the boat in the best position for viewing the moving whale while minimizing the rolling and pitched by the sea. The people on the boat above did not see the whale breach.

[Ken Watkins]

Joe,

I agree with you, but they are nevertheless not very comfortable or reassuring, but needs must.

In a similar manner the best game viewing vehicles are short and low to the ground.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Joe,
It must have been a memorable experience. Nice image. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Joe,
It must have been a memorable experience. Nice image. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[DanWalters]

Great action! I really like the water coming off the flippers and all the water at the bottom of the image.