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Gallery: WildlifePosted November 28, 2011909 views14 comments

Have been going through some old files and trying to delete some of the older images .Came across this old Jpeg which I thought I would share . .We have 3 resident pods of Orcas who spend about 7 months of the year around Vancouver Island . They are following the Salmon which are heading back to the Frazer river to spawn. These returning Salmon are the main diet for these awesome whales. It is always a special day when one can see and capture an Orca breaching.
Canon 7D . Canon 100-400.1/3000 at F4.5 .Iso 200 .handheld on a boat.
Critique and comments always helpful. Thank you for looking.

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Anand Narayanan on November 29, 2011 at 2:29 AM

How fortunate to live close to these awesome predators ! We are used to seeing pics of orcas cruising, but a breach like this seems quite rare in comparison. Certainly not many with one jumping straight at the camera. Great job on anticipating and capturing the action

Registered on October 25, 2009, 110 Posts, 835 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on November 29, 2011 at 4:42 AM

Well I am certainly glad you did not delete this, how on earth did you overlook it.

Stupendous image which perfectly illustrates the power of this beautiful whale, tremendous stuff

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on November 29, 2011 at 8:49 AM

Hi Suzanne,

This is quite spectacular! I'm quite familiar with the killer whales in this region and can attest to how uncommon it is to get them doing much in the way of breaching, let alone right at you. I like the exposure and/or processing here as well - nice balance of the lights and darks here. Given the pretty huge DOF here (especially for f4.5), I'm assuming that this was taken at the shorter end of the 100-400 lens you were using??

In a perfect world (and if I'm being hyper-picky) I wouldn't mind seeing just a tad more space below the whale, but this is a very minor thing and as posted this is a very striking image.

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on November 29, 2011 at 1:20 PM

Amazing to see it breaching towards you and that such relatively close range! Must have been an awesome moment.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on November 29, 2011 at 2:15 PM

Freaken Awesome Whale Photo Suzanne, Pure Wildness

No Nits Here!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Hussain Nalwala on November 29, 2011 at 2:17 PM

This is an awesome shot.....Very rerely one gets an opportunity to see something like this....

Registered on April 18, 2011, 298 Posts, 339 Comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on November 29, 2011 at 3:44 PM

Suzanne, great work capturing the action here! Glad you didn't delete this one!

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Jess Lee on November 29, 2011 at 10:47 PM

Wow talk about in your face. These guy are amazing when they are on the attack

Registered on November 1, 2003, 114 Posts, 929 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on November 30, 2011 at 8:13 AM

Great action nicely captured !
Agree with Brad on having some more canvas at the bottom.
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on December 1, 2011 at 7:51 AM

Talk about luck! This orca is actually breaching towards you! Beautifully composed.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Schwarz on December 2, 2011 at 3:32 PM

What a great experience and well captured.

Registered on November 29, 2006, 236 Posts, 1210 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on December 2, 2011 at 5:20 PM

Great shot! Perfect timing.

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on December 8, 2011 at 12:22 PM

Nice catch - the angle works great to show off the face and water.
Congrats on the WP!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on December 13, 2011 at 12:24 PM

A wonderful capture. I've spent some time with pods of Orcas, and they rarely breach. Well done. Congratulations in the WP!

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments