Photo Safaris By Region AFRICA - Botswana Wildlife - Madagascar - Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve, Kenya ANTARCTICA - Ultimate Antarctica ASIA - Essential China—Iconic Landmarks & Landscapes - India—Rajasthan & Puskar Fair - Japan's Winter Wildlife - Laos & Vietnam - Mongolia—The Golden Eagle Festival EUROPE - Best of the Greek Isles - Eclectic Holland - Finland's Arctic Wildlife - Turkey—Continental Crossroads - Tuscany - White Horses of France's Camargue NORTH AMERICA - Alaska Overland - Aurora Borealis—Fairbanks, Alaska - Bald Eagles of the Chilkat River, Alaska - Bosque del Apache & White Sands, New Mexico - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Summer - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Autumn - Colorado Fall Colors - Denali National Park in Autumn - Exploring Lake Powell - Florida Birds—Best of the West - Grand Canyon at Havasu Falls - Great Smoky Mountains - Horses & Icons of the Wild West - Humpback Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage - Mexico's Colonial Heartland - Monument Valley & Slot Canyons - Nova Scotia—Photo Tour for Women - Olympic National Park, Washington - Predatory Animals of North America - Springtime in Callaway Gardens, Georgia - Ultimate Wolves - Ultimate Yellowstone - Washington's Palouse Country - World's Best Raptor Shoot - Yellowstone & Grand Tetons in Autumn - Nature & Digital Photography Seminars with John Shaw PACIFICA - Midway Atoll SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA - Galápagos - Patagonia's Mountain Landscapes - Ultimate Dolphins Wildlife Models Shoot - Wildlife of Brazil's Pantanal Photo Safaris By Date JANUARY - Ultimate Wolves - Nature & Digital Photography Seminars with John Shaw, Dallas, TX & Raleigh, NC - Ultimate Yellowstone FEBRUARY - Japan's Winter Wildlife MARCH - Florida Birds—Best of the West - Nature & Digital Photography Seminars with John Shaw, Phoenix, AZ & Boston, MA - Midway Atoll - Aurora Borealis—Fairbanks, Alaska - Monument Valley & Slot Canyons - White Horses of France's Camargue APRIL - Springtime in Callaway Gardens, Georgia - Galápagos - Finland's Arctic Wildlife - Patagonia's Mountain Landscapes - Eclectic Holland - Great Smoky Mountains - Grand Canyon at Havasu Falls - Mexico's Colonial Heartland MAY - Wildlife of Brazil's Pantanal - Turkey—Continental Crossroads - Ultimate Dolphins Wildlife Models Shoot - Best of the Greek Isles - Tuscany JUNE - Washington's Palouse Country - Predatory Animals of North America JULY - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Summer - Olympic National Park, Washington AUGUST - Washington's Palouse Country - Humpback Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage SEPTEMBER - Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve, Kenya - Denali National Park in Autumn - Alaska Overland - Essential China—Iconic Landmarks & Landscapes - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Autumn - Madagascar - Yellowstone & Grand Tetons in Autumn - Botswana Wildlife - Colorado Fall Colors - Predatory Animals of North America - Horses & Icons of the Wild West - Mongolia—The Golden Eagle Festival OCTOBER - Exploring Lake Powell - World's Best Raptor Shoot - Nova Scotia—Photo Tour for Women - India—Rajasthan & Puskar Fair NOVEMBER - Laos & Vietnam - Ultimate Antarctica - Bald Eagles of the Chilkat River, Alaska DECEMBER - Bosque del Apache & White Sands, New Mexico

		Your subject is hidden, rarely presenting even a glimpse of itself. When it does appears, the encounter lasts for mere seconds, no more. The weather is often poor — drizzle or overcast skies are the norm in some locales — and on such days the low light level taxes your shutter speeds and camera handling techniques. Your shooting platform is unsteady, rocking and tilting, and yet horizon lines — level horizon lines, that is — are often an important part of the photograph. Handholding is the norm, as the vibration from your crafts engine makes using a tripod impossible. Sound difficult? Sound impossible? Well, welcome to the world of whale photography, at least in southeastern Alaska! Of all the wildlife subjects weve filmed, few are as challenging as whales, and the paragraph above pretty much outlines the reasons. Yet a great whale photograph makes for a spectacular image, perhaps as much because of the rarity of the opportunity as for the difficulties involved. Just think of the luck required in simply seeing a whale. Most of the time, theyre underwater and its possible to cruise through whale-rich waters daily and simply miss seeing them. As marine mammals, whales must come to the surface to breathe, but that brief visit may last only a few seconds. When they do, their foggy-looking exhalation called the spout or blow, reveals a whales presence from a mile or more away — but you have to be looking in that direction when the whale blows. The exhalation on a cold day may hang in the air for several seconds but, bottom line, you must be watching to see it. A humpback may stay submerged for half an hour or more, and sighting a blow does not necessarily mean youll actually be seeing a whale. Even when a whale breaks the surface, the action is brief — but those precious occasions are what whale photography is all about. Southeastern Alaska is the site of what is probably the most dramatic and accessible whale photography. Humpback whales are the predominant species. At fifty some feet, they are one of the larger species and exhibit several behaviors that not only make them unique but also make them THE whale species to photograph. Perhaps the most dramatic behavior is breaching, where humpbacks fling themselves out of the water in spectacular missile-like explosions before crashing back into the sea with a resounding splash. Other whales occasionally breach, including the gray whales in Baja California, but none do so with the frequency or showmanship of the humpback. Breaching, as one might expect, lasts only about two seconds or so, and there is little warning to alert you as to where or when a whale may blast out of the sea. A breaching whale may surface anywhere, and theres no guarantee that the direction in which it dived will be the direction it rises from in a breach. Waiting, scanning the ocean surface, camera at the ready, is an intense, anxiety-filled exercise, for each breach may be the last of the series. To compound the anxiety, the breach itself is a silent act — sometimes youre only aware that a breach has occurred, and that you missed it, when you hear the explosive clap of the water as the whale smashes back into the sea. Breaching may occur just once, or may be repeated a dozen or several scores of times before the displaying whale tires or grows bored and resumes typical whale behavior. Sometimes a whale will rise almost completely out of the water before arching into its usual back flip position as it crashes into the sea. You photograph a breaching whale by finding one engaged in the behavior, not waiting for it to occur, as is more typical of other types of wildlife photography. Fortunately, the huge splashes of a breach can be spotted a mile or more away on calm seas. Unfortunately, motoring to a distant whale is a slow process and by the time you reach a very active whale it may have finished breaching. Sometimes breaching is preceded by, interspersed with, or followed by another loud and splashy behavior called lob-tailing. A whale may lie just below the surface, or actually hang head downward, sticking its tail out of the water and smashing it against the water periodically. These splashes can be seen from a great distance, and can be confused with a breach. Humpback tails sport distinctive patterns of black and white and, in lob-tailing, it is fairly easy to record the identity of a specific animal. These images can be of value to scientists who track migratory patterns and seasonal ranges. Humpbacks feed on herring and krill — shrimp-like crustaceans about half an inch long. In southeastern Alaska, krill and the six-inch long herring often congregate in enormous numbers. On a boats sonar, you might see a blanket of krill or herring several feet deep and extending for miles. While much feeding may occur below the waters surface, some does not, and this feeding activity makes for some of the most spectacular shooting. Krill are often captured by a behavior called lunge-feeding, where the whale lolls near the surface and rather lazily swims forward, often on its side, with its mouth agape. In one sweep of its ten-foot wide tail the whales mouth surrounds a hundred pounds or more of krill. This lunge-feeding is interesting, and can make for some great shots of the whales baleen, the comb-like filters that separate the krill or fish from the water. Baleen is a keratinous material similar to our fingernails or hair. The flexible baleen traps krill on and between its fibers, which the whales huge tongue then sweeps clean. The other conspicuous and quite extraordinary method of feeding for the humpbacks is a unique behavior called bubble-net feeding. While bubble-net feeding, one or more whales swim below the surface, blowing air in a continual stream. As the bubbles rise towards the surface, they create a confusing wall or net through which fish are reluctant to pass. Other whales swim below the net and, as the bubbles rise, so do the whales. As the surface boils with erupting bubbles and herring, the whales burst to the surface, their mouths impossibly, hugely agape. A bubble-net event may involve just a single whale or more than a dozen, but it only lasts for seconds. Heads may completely break the surface, creating shapes unfamiliar to us — an intriguing and often confusing picture. But no sooner have the whales surfaced, than they begin to submerge and, in seconds, the seas are calm again. Bubble-net feeding may last for hours or entire days if the fish hold out. Beyond question, it is one of the most spectacular wildlife events that exist in nature. Its exciting, unpredictable and, by the sheer volume of animal flesh involved, simply awesome. Besides breaching, lob-tailing and feeding behaviors, the flukes and humpback of the humpback whale make for interesting shots. A whale that rises to the surface to breathe almost always dips forward, presenting the distinctive shape that gives the humpback its name. Sometimes, but not always, the whale dips more deeply and the tail rises completely out of the water. A back view of this can be spectacular, especially if youre close and you capture a cascade of water streaming off the tail. On deep dives, the tail may stick straight up, perfect for those ID shots of a whales tail. By the way, deep dives may precede a breach or bubble-net feeding, so be ready! Some species of whales also spy-hop, where they float with their heads sticking up out of water for a few seconds. Gray whales often do this in the Baja and its enchanting, if not a bit unsettling, to see a whale checking you out from only a few feet away. Orcas, or killer whales, also do this, sometimes in unison. To photograph whales, be prepared to spend long hours searching the seas. Even in whale-rich waters like those off southeastern Alaska, hours can go by without seeing a whale, and days can pass without a glimpse of any of the exciting whale behaviors you hope to photograph. But thats all part of the whale-watching game; no one said it would be easy. For filming, we use Canon 100-400mm zoom lenses, and wed recommend a zoom as your primary lens. Another great choice is the 70-200mm or 80-200mm f/2.8s, especially if your zoom matches up with a converter. Since whale activity of every type can occur at any distance, I prefer a broad zoom range. In fact, in the Baja, my favorite lens is the Canon 35-350mm, since whales may breach in the distance or spy-hop virtually right in front of you. On our last trip to Alaska, a particularly active breaching whale was sometimes beyond acceptable range for a 600mm and — once, to our delight and surprise was within great range for a 24mm! On that occasion, the splash almost doused all of us on the boats bow! On my first whale trip I used a 300mm f/2.8 with a 1.4X and made some great shots, but I was lucky — the whales were always at just the right distance. Now, Mary and I use our zooms to compensate for these variable and unpredictable working distances. The new IS and VR lenses (Canon and Nikon, respectively) are perfect for handholding, but even then, a lens cant work miracles. In rough seas, your camera will still be unstable, so use the fastest shutter speed you can. Depth of field shouldnt be an issue, so go for a faster shutter speed. This will be especially important if you have breaching or bubble-net feeding where the subjects movement is also an issue. Weve done all of our whale photography on tour boats or on special whale photography tours where other tourists or photographers shared the decks. Using a tripod under those conditions was out of the question, but even when space isnt a problem, the vibration of your boats engine will be. Although I havent had a chance to test this, I suspect the IS lenses that mount on a tripod may dispel a boat engines vibration. However, even when using a tripod is possible, I wouldnt recommend it because there is simply no telling where a whale will surface. It is a lot easier to swing left or right, or even do a fast 180 turn with a hand-held camera, than it is to do from behind a tripod. Youre likely to miss more than you get when shooting from a tripod. We carry at least two lenses on our whale shoots, although most of the time the action is too fast or unpredictable to do much lens changing. Both Mary and I carry a 28-135mm IS lens in addition to the larger zoom for those times when a whale is close to the boat. One of my favorite shots is of a humpbacks tail just before the whale dove, made with a 28-135mm from the front of a small motor skiff. Luckily I could zoom out to 28mm, for anything longer would have cut off either end of the whales tail. Ethical whale boat captains wont intentionally get you too close to a whale for fear of stressing, harassing or otherwise impacting the whales behavior. Fortunately, though, unstressed whales often approach your boat. And weve seen every type of whale behavior, from breaching to spy-hopping to bubble-net feeding right off our boats, by simply letting the whales do their thing. Auto-focus lenses work especially well for whale photography because the action occurs so fast and at unpredictable distances. With my EOS 3 I have the choice of 45 AF points or picking a single point, and Ive found Im more accurate by using just the central AF point. When all 45 AF points are active, the camera would occasionally lock onto the background and focus there. The whales, with less contrast in the foreground, would be slightly out of focus. When I used to shoot Nikon, I was very pleased with the f/5s ability to lock onto a whale for sharp focus. Horizon lines can be a problem in any composition where there is water, but especially so in vertical compositions since theres a smaller reference area visible within your viewfinder. An architectural grid screen might help in either format and, especially if youre shooting in a horizontal format, where there are usually more and longer lines you can use as a reference. When Im shooting, Im constantly looking beyond the whales to the background as I attempt to keep my horizon lines straight. When that proves difficult, as may happen when the seas are rough and Im bouncing about, Ill try to zoom tighter or shoot from an upper deck, so that the horizon line is completely eliminated. A bigger problem is exposure — light is constantly changing, even on clear-sky days as the whales may surface anywhere, in front of or behind the boat or on either side. Water reflects either the sky, which may be considerably brighter than a middle tone value, or the background, which may be a forest or mountain that is very dark. An incident meter reading may be your most reliable metering device as it always reads for middle tone, but even then you may have to compensate for whales in black water — reflecting dark backgrounds or in white water that is reflecting a bright sky. Generally, unless were dealing with black water, we meter the water itself and assess whether it is middle-toned or lighter than middle-toned in value. If it looks middle-toned blue we leave the exposure as it is. If it seems brighter, we overexpose off that reading by as much as +1 — making the light water go brighter since a direct reading, uncompensated, will underexpose a light area. Humpback whales are generally almost black, highlighted by white spots or patches (especially around the flippers and tail), and a middle-tone reading will render the whale much as you see it. Breaching and bubble-net feeding will involve a lot of white water, too, so a middle-tone reading should allow the light values of the white splashes and the dark values of the water to fall into place. Southeastern Alaska is the humpback whale-watching capital, not just for the numbers of whales and variety of behaviors, but also for the magnificent backgrounds. Hawaii and Haiti in winter are also great humpback-whale-watching locations, and the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine are great in summer for humpbacks, minke and several other species. Our second favorite whale-watching locale is the waters around the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. In the San Ignacio and Magdalene lagoons gray whales are fairly abundant in winter, before migrating up the Pacific coastline to their summer feeding areas in Alaska. Off Bajas tip at Cabo San Lucas humpbacks spend the winter and in the Sea of Cortez blues, fin and orcas are common, as well as schools of dolphins that may number in the thousands. While the first paragraph of this column paints a bleak picture, we are not trying to discourage anyone from photographing whales. Far from it. Although it can be frustrating — searching fruitlessly on beautiful bluebird-sky days or having great luck with an active breaching whale in a miserable rainstorm — the rewards, are well worth it. Breaching and bubble-net feeding are two of the grandest wildlife spectacles available anywhere and one wed encourage everyone to enjoy. Humpback Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage

	Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc. P.O. Box 655, Vashon Island, Washington USA 98070 Phone: (206) 463-5383   Fax: (206) 463-5484    Email: info@photosafaris.com Copyright © 2008, Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc.