Whales Bubble Feeding

Gallery: WildlifePosted December 6, 2011206 views5 comments

I saw a group of Humpback whales bubble feeding in Alaska this Summer. It was so amazing to watch. The birds liked it too. Nikon D300 with Nikon 200-400 @360MM. 1/1250 F5.6 ISO 400.

Comments and critiques always welcome.

Thanks

Andrew

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on December 6, 2011 at 10:21 PM

Fabulous image, Andrew! Pity it hasn't got more comments!

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

Comment posted by Christer Johansson on December 7, 2011 at 8:34 AM

Great photo Andrew. The birds is perfect to get a sense of the size of the whales. Crisp and well exposed. Only genative is that its cntred but for me that is no issue on this type of nature images.

Registered on October 10, 2009, 50 Posts, 191 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on December 7, 2011 at 11:26 AM

This is an interesting behavioral shot and the gulls add to the shot but it is hard for me to "read". Maybe this is a dumb question (I don't know that much about whales and have never photographed them) but are we looking at two, three or four whales here? I am guessing three (one in the FG, one in the middle and one in the BG partially obscured) but I'm really not sure. I think it would help to orient me if I could see a clearly distinguishable eye (or eyes). There may be one there but I can't see it. I'm sure it was a great experience to see this action!

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on December 7, 2011 at 12:41 PM

Interesting image Andrew. Something I would love to see with my own eyes one day. I appreciate the good detail on the whales and the birds do add and provide a sense of scale as well. I do wish the birds were not overlapping the subjects though, particularly since they are OOF. Above or next to the main subjects would have been better IMO; not that you could control the bird's flight patterns, but perhaps one of your other frames of this encounter does have the birds without overlap?

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

Comment posted by Clinton Bauder on December 7, 2011 at 2:10 PM

Hi Andrew,

I like this though I tend to agree with Vincent about the birds. For once I'd probably prefer a slightly less tight crop too. I think the boiling water around the whales is interesting and it might be nice to have a bit more of it, along with a bit more space above the whales. Still, I'm jealous as I've been to Alaska 4 times and seen lots of humpbacks but haven't managed any images of bubble net behavior.

Clinton

Registered on December 8, 2009, 31 Posts, 231 Comments