Humpback Whale Breaching

[intrepidphotos]

A Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breaching in blue water offshore from the coast of Port Stephens, NSW, Australia. The humpback is one of the larger rorqual species of baleen whale with adults rangeing in length from 12–16 metres (39–52 ft) and weighing approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 lb). The shot was taken from a 42" Catalina sloop. Using long range telephoto lenses out in open ocean is much harder than most people realize due the magnification of rocking from the swell in the viewfinder. To freeze the movement here and the water streaming of his fins I shot this photo at very high speed (1/3200 of a second). The other settings were f/5.6 and ISO 640 using a zoom of 260mm on a Canon 6D with a Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS .

Love Life, Love Photography

_{All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com}

Comments

[crazy-andy]

Wow, that has to be an amazing sight...

[intrepidphotos]

It's always a special moment to see them breaching.

[photofeed]

📸 Congratulations! Your picture received a 100% Upvote 📸

[intrepidphotos]

Thanks

[ciuoto]

Whale watching is something I have to do!!!
Very beautiful picture!

[intrepidphotos]

Thanks; you don't realize how big they are until you see them jumping.

[acesontop]

Truly majestic.

[intrepidphotos]

Thanks

[hairofmedusa]

I wonder how long he waited to do this shot, dear Rob, I always enjoy watching his extraordinary work. Congrats
I send respect and love.

[intrepidphotos]

I was on the boat for a few days; just have to have the camera handy ;-)

[josediccus]

Beautiful process to shooting of this one, I already felt it was a difficult shoot the moment I saw the whale's thrust, I needed you needed speed and precision. Irrespective it's totally stunning work wow.

[intrepidphotos]

Thanks

[derangedvisions]

Man, that would be so awesome to see. Amazing shot as always.

[intrepidphotos]

Thanks mate. Hope your felling ok after all the drama of the past few months with your health.

[betterthanhome]

Awesome shot! Haven´t seen a humpback that close, only from a distance. But we´re planning to do a Wale watching Tour here in Australia soon. They´ve sighted Migaloo, the albino Humpback on the Gold Coast. Would be great to see him

[intrepidphotos]

Thanks. Would love to see him too; hopefully he is still alive by the time we sail back to oz.

[keithboone]

What a thrill it must be to see this! Great photo!

[intrepidphotos]

Thanks Keith