Whale action shots with digital

[taylortroop]

I received a digital camera for Christmas and was very excited about taking it on our first cruise to Alaska. After reading many of the posts here, I am now concerned about the quality of action shots I will be able to get. My camera does have a delay and I'm afraid I'll end up with only the tails of the whales. How do people get the awesome shots that I've seen on these posts? Obviously I need to also take my 35 mm camera?

[Yukon]

I've had good results with my digital by zooming in as far as it will go, pressing the shutter halfway and waiting for the right moment to shoot. That way there is no more delay, as you've already got everything set. There are several downsides, though. Your camera shuts down every few seconds to save batteries, it's hard on batteries anyway, and you can't change zoom settings. But it does work - just carry extra batteries and be prepared for the possibility of having some too-close whale shots (yeah, like a whale can ever be too close when you have a camera in your hand! :D )

 

Murray

[wolfie11]

I have both a digital camera and a 35mm with a 60-300mm lens and auto-drive. I usually carry both. For animals like whales and bears, and for calving glaciers, I use the 35mm with slide film. I can then scan my slides and get high quality digital pictures. I have also had good success using print film and getting it developed somewhere where they also put digital copies on line for download. The digital camera is perfect for scenery and shots of friends, family etc. It is also much cheaper than shooting 35mm film. I probably take 10 digital pictures for every one I take with my 35mm, but for wildlife a big lens and no delay time are essential.

[JohnQ]

Plus the shutter delay is reduced on the newer cameras and the method discussed by Yukon will eliminate most of the delay. The other problem is our expectations based on cruise brochures and watching travel channel. When whalewatching for humpbacks, backs and tails are about all you can expect to see. Anything else is pure luck, timing, right place right time, and all that stuff!!! I relied on my 35mm system and 400 lens for all of my whalewatching and my Katmai bear tours. I also took my digital and did take pictures with it. I did get a few good whale shots, but since we had no breeching, I still haven't captured that. As for the bear, I had to switch to my digital because he was too close for my long lens!!! And I did it very very slowly!!!!

[CruiseIsGood]

We were lucky enough to see humpback bubble-net feeding twice, where they all crash out of the water at the same time, but I don't think anyone got any shots, since you have no clue where they'll come out until they do, and they fall back to the water so quickly it's hard to point a camera, much less shoot. Other than that, all backs and tails.

[calee]

On my last trip I used my 35mm and digital video. I did fairly well with the 35 but did capture quite a few "he was there a second ago" shots. I did very well with the video, even captured some spy hopping. The video camera has an image stabilizer which is a big help.I will attempt to use a new digital camera next month with Capt. Larry and plan on doing what Yukon suggested as well as using sequential shooting, taking 3 frames per second and hoping that I anticipate the whale's movement well. That's what's great with the digital, you know what you've got immediately and you just dump the bad shots.

[CruiseIsGood]

Besides bubble-net feeding, which I've seen both times although they say it's rare, I don't think the humpbacks in Alaska do much jumping out of the water. I think that's more playful behaviour, when in Hawaii. Just like whale song--we heard some, but it was what the naturalist said was the lead female giving orders for the bubble-net, and not so musical. But I've heard the whale song in Hawaii is great. They're in Alaska to consume as much fish as they can--they don't seem to play around as much. The killer whales were pretty playful though... one of them jumped up and showed us his, um, member.

 

If you don't catch them bubble-netting, photographing is easy. All backs and tails though and pretty uninteresting in a photo. I have a couple in my gallery here: http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=1189 and about 50 more exactly the same that I didn't post. The bird flying through the spray was funny, though. :)

[midnightsun]

Did you get a picture of the Killer Whale? :D

[CruiseIsGood]

No, I think everyone forgot they had cameras at that moment. heh

[MaryEllen1952]

The newer digital cameras have improved dramatically for action shots. I have a Sony 7.2mp (very small) and have no problem with photos taken from a kayak or moving boat but the older cameras will not have this increased speed.

[Love Cruis'n]

I'm taking my 5 megapixel digital. In Feb. '04 in Hawaii we saw lots of whales, and got lots of great shots. The trick (take the picture at the maximum pixel setting) I found is to just use the optical zoom (3x on my camera) and then when you get home, I just used the software that came with the camera to crop the bit of the pic where the whale is. That is what you print / post / whatever. (Just need to pay attention to the aspect ratio, or your print will be funny). Earlier comments on holding the shutter down half way is good advice, (and may be adjustable on your camera) it was tricky on the little boat we were on in Hawaii, but hope for a nice smooth platform in Alaska.

 

The other thing I plan on trying to using my Dad's old (circa 1954) stereo camera. It's 35mm, and taked 2 pics at the same instant. Then with special handling, they get mounted onto a rectangular slide mount, and viewed thru - well - a viewer. If it comes out - it is beyond belief. For scenery - not wildlife I imagine. No zoom, filters, etc available.

 

Anybody have any "best bets" for spoting whales in late July - any recommended excursions that were wonderful?

 

Thanks... :)

[taylortroop]

Thanks to all you answered. I will still do my best with my digital and cross my fingers.