Whale Watching - advice needed
Discussion
I'm off to Iceland in August and the family are intent on whale watching. I've got a D80 with 70-300mm VR lens. Do you think that this lens will be a) long enough b) fast enough. If "No" to either, does anyone know somewhere I can rent Nikon lenses for a couple of weeks?
Thanks
Nelly
Thanks
Nelly
OK. Yes the camera and lens combination will be fine. I've not watched 'em in Iceland but I've done it in Kaikoura, New Zealand.
1) In a medium to small boat you can often get surprisingly close - a few feet. If you will be on a cruise ship maybe you will need that 300mm - but not otherwise!
2) Pictures of whales 'flat' are BORING and DULL - but if you get up close the beasts are very interesting to see. So don't forget to put your camera down and look at 'em. Smell 'em too if I recall correctly. They have monstrous fishy halitosis so if you get near one clearing its nose stay behind the glass. Blurgh!
3) The only good photo of a whale is when they duck dive and go down to feed. The "whale tail" does that magnificent thing you've seen and this is the moment to grab your shot. Sadly merely finding a whale floating on the surface is no guarantee that it will duck dive anytime soon. They go to sleep and nap floating on the surface of the water - sometimes for ages - before finally doing the dive thing again.
4) Once its gone down put your camera down. The buggers dive incredibly deep and stay down for the three quarters of an hour or so. Once its under the water you have effectively lost it.
The best wildlife shots when whale watching are often the other creatures. I got some fun dolphin shots and close ups of an albatross whilst waiting for the next whale to do its thing. All in all its an experience well worth doing - but the whales themselves unintuitively may not be the best part. In any case - ENJOY!
1) In a medium to small boat you can often get surprisingly close - a few feet. If you will be on a cruise ship maybe you will need that 300mm - but not otherwise!
2) Pictures of whales 'flat' are BORING and DULL - but if you get up close the beasts are very interesting to see. So don't forget to put your camera down and look at 'em. Smell 'em too if I recall correctly. They have monstrous fishy halitosis so if you get near one clearing its nose stay behind the glass. Blurgh!
3) The only good photo of a whale is when they duck dive and go down to feed. The "whale tail" does that magnificent thing you've seen and this is the moment to grab your shot. Sadly merely finding a whale floating on the surface is no guarantee that it will duck dive anytime soon. They go to sleep and nap floating on the surface of the water - sometimes for ages - before finally doing the dive thing again.
4) Once its gone down put your camera down. The buggers dive incredibly deep and stay down for the three quarters of an hour or so. Once its under the water you have effectively lost it.
The best wildlife shots when whale watching are often the other creatures. I got some fun dolphin shots and close ups of an albatross whilst waiting for the next whale to do its thing. All in all its an experience well worth doing - but the whales themselves unintuitively may not be the best part. In any case - ENJOY!
I found the easiest way to photo dolphins from a boat is to zoom my 70-200 till its about the same as my eyes, then turn the camera to portrait and use one eye through the lens and the other to see normally. Meant I could track the dolphins better as you never know when they are going to jump, or suddenyl appear, so the more you can see, the better.
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