Clearing the Water - Humpbacked whale

[Grant Atkinson]

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200mmf4 lens, handheld. Shutter speed 1/2000s, f4, iso 200. Shot from moving boat. Cropped from 18 to 16.5mp. 23 June 12h52 . Indian Ocean, Wild Coast, South Africa, less wind, and sea calmer than the humpback shot I posted last week. Midday light was a bit bright, caused some burned out splash reflections against the whales body, I cloned out the worst. Used ACR brush tool to darken the bright water splash near it's fluke.
All C and C welcome
Cheers
Grant

www.grantatkinson.com

[peter delaney]

Well done Grant, must have been great to witness..

lovely image...

peter

[Steve Kaluski]

Now you really are making a big splash!!!:D Brilliant.

TFS
Steve;)

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks Peter and Steve, it was a great sighting to feel, hear and experience. What I forgot to add was focal lenght of the zoom lens-91mm.
thanks for commenting
Grant

[Rachel Hollander]

Grant - All I can say is wow. Gorgeous shot.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

this must've been real close to you! loving the intensity! did you get wet?

[Marc Mol]

The classic jumping Humpback shot Grant, very well depicted! A great action image.
Would love to have this in my files.
TFS

[Harshad Barve]

Yet another IOTW for you IMHO , Mighty fine image
TFS

[Danny Laredo]

Stunning capture and timing.

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks for all the kind comments. Morkel, we were a fair distance away, way out of splashing range, these things are big, over 10m long. The noise is awe-inspiring when when they land. We got lucky this June, as we tried in 08 and 09 with several sightings but never clear of the water (except of course when we were watching from miles away on dry land:)). This year we had a good run of less windy days, and flat sea conditions, and a big dose of luck. Hoping to get another try at this same time next year. Am after a backlit breach :)
cheers
Grant

[Hilary Hann]

Grant, you are giving us some stunning, wonderful images from your whale watching trip. Thanks for sharing these.