Backstroking humpback

[Suzanne Huot]

This time of year Humpback whales are heading south from Alaska to their winter home around the Hawian Islands
Their route takes them past Vancouver Island and a few spend a few weeks relaxing around the Victoria area ,which gives people a chance to see and photograph them.This Mother humpback was accompanied by a calf .and much to our camera clubs delight ,mother whale decided to have fun flipping and backstroking along ,showing off her huge pectorial flippers ,an amazing 12 feet long

Canon 300 plus 2X hand held from boat
canon Mk 11 1 D
Av 5.6
Tv 1/5000

Cropped slightly

Critique and comments please as here to learn
Thank you for looking

[Harshad Barve]

lovely image Suzanne with with nice control on expo
TFS

[Tell Dickinson]

Different view than most Whale shots but I like it very much Suzanne, exposure must be very difficult but you did well :) Am I correct in assuming the '8' on one flipper is put there by man for identification ?

Tell

[Suzanne Huot]

Tell, mentioned the marking that looks kike the figure 8 on one of the flippers,I forgot tp mention in my posting of the image, it is actually a ring left from af ew barnicles or other crustrations that have died and left their imprint on the whales flipper .Have seen many such figure 8 marking on several other whales and other interesting marks on flippers and flukes
Thank you Tell for ppointing it out

[Tell Dickinson]

Tell, mentioned the marking that looks kike the figure 8 on one of the flippers,I forgot tp mention in my posting of the image, it is actually a ring left from af ew barnicles or other crustrations that have died and left their imprint on the whales flipper .

Very interesting Suzanne, thanks for clarifying that for me :)

Tell

[Robert Amoruso]

Interesting tidbit on the figure 8 on the fin.

As mentioned, exposure handled well. Nice to see you get a good view of each fin so you can see the front and back. Depending upon your preferences for such things, you can clone out the specular highlights in the fins. I would not take them all out, just the larger concentrations if you so decide.

[Lance Warley]

Beautiful pose and exposure, Suzanne. Great light.

I had the pleasure of seeing the humpbacks a couple of weeks ago...just posted a feeding shot...

I'm sure you were as thrilled as I was to even see one of them.

[Suzanne Huot]

Lance ,your seeing the humpbacks feeding has long been a dream of mine to see and photograph.I am very lucky to live in an area which is rich in marine life and have had the priviledge of spending many many happy hours trying to photograph the many whales who call this area home for part of the year
Suzanne

[Katie Rupp]

Great capture, Suzanne, good exposure and interesting/different view. I would love to see these guys some day, other than waaaay out there! Thanks for the info on the 8 figure.

[DanWalters]

Great shot! The low angle really emphasizes the size of the whale.