A Few Frames of Alaskan Eagles and Whales

pathfinder · April 29, 2015

I am finally home again from a week on the MV Northern Song out of Sitka. The weather was not helpful this trip with lots of rain, drizzle, gale winds, snow and ice, and just a couple days of nicer, calmer seas. I did manage to get a few frames of eagles that I like, and a breaching humpback though.

Eagles always cooperate if you feed them...

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Photographing eagles with a preferred background was one task I tried to remember this trip.

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Humpback breaching on a grey day

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More here - http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/Travel/Alaska-on-the-MV-Northern-Song/48794010_kJC55Q#!i=4009623111&k=zNz3rQ6 - if you visit, please consider leaving a comment good or bad.

Even though the seas were not that favorable, it was great to spend 7 or 8 days in Alaska. Indeed, I am planning on returning by vehicle yet this spring.

Stumblebum · April 29, 2015

Eagles are cool but the Whale shots are absolute killers Jim! Congrats!

lust

kdog · April 29, 2015

Awesome, Jim. Love 'em all. The backgrounds in 2 and 3 are killer. Even so, #1 is my favorite eagle shot here. Great job on the whales too. Breaching whales are exceedingly difficult to catch.

pathfinder · April 29, 2015

Joel, currently #2 is my desktop on my 4k monitor - I still have my LG 31MU97.

Breaching whales are usually challenging, because they come out of no where and then are gone. But this rascal breached at least 14 times in a row, I counted them on my card. It was amazing.

I also have orcas and a rainbow - it is a pretty drab shot with a grey rainbow, but hey, it is a rainbow and they are orcas.

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Cavalier · April 30, 2015

Loved them all - #1 and #3 are my favorites.

dlplumer · April 30, 2015

clap

puzzledpaul · May 1, 2015

Looks like you had an enjoyable trip and plenty of pics to allow you to relive the experience

re this selection, yes, the mountains make a good bg (certainly better imo than the usual featureless blue sky) - but,for me, they weren't quite playing fair, because of the trees ... which create an eye pull away from the main subject.
Additionally, it would've been interesting to see what 2 and 3 looked like with the subject positions transposed, 'cos I think the eagle (in 2) would've been more appealing over to the left of frame?

I even wondered if you had any more mountain bgs from similar pov /oof for doing a bit of frame stitching?

You're well aware of my outlook re critters, water and pov and thus I can only wonder what the first whale breaching shot (probably my pick?) would've looked like shot from a RIB or similar.

Nearest I've been (or will ever get, probably) to this sort of experience was a 4 hr whale watching trip out of Whitby a couple of yrs ago, so can imagine the thrill of seeing such animals ... but also experience the pic taking compromises associated with circumstances /environment out of one's control.

pp

Thelensspot · May 1, 2015

Jim, really nice shots. I particularly enjoy your work on #'s 1 and 5. The concentration exhibited in the eye of the eagle in the first and the freedom and carefree nature of the whale in the last are just perfect for me!

pathfinder · May 1, 2015

Paul, you bring up several interesting points for discussion.

1) Backgrounds - skies versus mountains and forests . I have lots of shots of the eagles against the pine tree forests that I posted on my Smugmug gallery, and the forests truly do usually detract from the image in most of my shots of that type, hence I do favor the snow covered mountains. Even though they are bright they still do not really compete with the bird in flight for my eye. I liked the way the eagle matched the mountain's slope in image 2 and 3. Flipping 2 or 3 horizontally might work, but I favored the versions I have posted here. Partly due to the slope of the mountain in the frame as well

2) I will have to look and see if I have some frames that might be stitched to enlarge the background. I do have one pano with a bird in it

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3) I suspect we agree that shooting kids and critters from their eye level is very important - I always try to do that. When one shares an 80 foot boat with other people, one cannot always get the preferred location to shoot from and remain on friendly terms with everyone aboard. The Northern Song does have a very nice transom platform just 6 inches above the water, but the space can be limited too just a few people, and the captain is maneuvering the boat for people in the bow as well, so sometimes it is better to get up higher on the upper deck 15 feet above water level. I found myself up there at times, annoyed at the time that I could not get lower, and yet, I actually prefer many of the shots shot from the upper deck when I finally got them home to examine on my larger monitor. I guess I would say that I am learning to have a more open mind about what level to shoot from.

Shooting from a RIB can get you closer sometimes, but shooting with 400mm lens from an unstable platform ( relative to a larger boat ) can be quite challenging too. I have done a fair amount of trying to shoot eagles with 400mm+ lenses from my own 17 foot boat and that is definitely more difficult than from a larger more stable platform like the Northern Song. Possibly shooting from a RIB might be best done with 200mm or less?

Catching that particular breaching whale from a RIB probably would not have occurred - although the whale breached repeatedly at least 14 times, it dove fairly deeply between breaches, and emerged in different locations each time, hundreds of yard apart, sometimes on opposite sides of the boat - the higher viewing point of the Northern Song was really helpful to finding it each time it erupted which sometimes was first noted audibly, not visually. It is telling, that not infrequently the first awareness I had of whales nearby was to hear them breath, not necessarily to see them first, because they frequently surfaced behind us.

Maybe this breaching is more what you had in mind??

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wtlwdwgn · May 1, 2015

Wow, nice shooting! You did well despite the challenges of Alaska.

puzzledpaul · May 2, 2015

pathfinder wrote: »

...

Photographing eagles with a preferred background was one task I tried to remember this trip.

Jim, this is the sentence that prompted me to respond in the first place, since I also consider backgrounds as being crucially important ... and where I shoot, is one of the few elements over which I have some degree of choice / control.

Other points you raise, like broadening one's horizons as regards pov levels etc are duly noted ... I accept I have a particular stance on this ... even tho that stance is occasionally upright, behind a tripod

for bif and other appropriate subjects, but I just prefer lower level shots with subjects that are on, or very close to, the water.

As such, it makes much sense to take advantage of the greater stability of a larger vessel than a small craft for bif shots where interaction with the water isn't present in the shot.

Similarly,it makes sense to use the higher vantage point afforded by a larger vessel for spotting such subjects as breaching whales ... but the obvious trade off there is that of accepting a shot which is similar to many others, as opposed to attempting to get one from something like a RIB / Zodiac ... which is likely to be much more difficult ... but also rather different?

I have no personal experience of shooting from such craft - Even tho I have some idea of the difficulties involved from the whale watching trip previously mentioned ... I make my comments based on what I've read (and seen images in) blogs written by well known (this side of the pond, anyway) pros like Peter Cairns / Danny Green etc.

I was intrigued to learn that the vessel you were on had a low level transom platform - I didn't see this on the pics of said craft when I looked it up (I used to make model boats / aircraft when younger) ... but again can appreciate the issues involved with using such a location -from both the visibility and social aspects.

I view others' images in the same way (with same baggage /etc) as my own ... so any comments are given as if I was considering said suggestions if the pic was mine - in this forum environment, I reduce the browser window size and move the pic around (+ imagine added canvas if / where appropriate) to see if a more appealing result can be obtained.

A shame you're not just round the corner, since there's a fair scope for discussion here ...

pp

pathfinder · May 2, 2015

I am sure I would enjoy talking with you over a pint. I had the good fortune to be able to do that last fall with Mr Cairns while we were in Scotland . Indeed, I was able to hike up the Old Man of Storr under his guidance.

One thing I have not done is try shooting from right at water level by submerging myself in a river float or a wading float. I may try to give that a while this summer some time.

The transom platform on the Northern Song is carried vertical under power, but can be hydraulically lowered to just 6 inches above the water. It is probably 6 x 10 feet in size, so the space is limited to just a few people, especially if shooting to abeam rather than to stern. The water in Alaska is pretty cool, mid 40s if memory serves, so one doesn't want to inadvertently step off it. Not sure how that differs from the sea temperatures around UK. Not that different from the northern Scottish Coast I would think.

puzzledpaul · May 2, 2015

pathfinder wrote: »

One thing I have not done is try shooting from right at water level by submerging myself in a river float or a wading float. I may try to give that a while this summer some time.

Nearest I've been to (me) being submerged is using chest waders + tripod ... I found this somewhat unsatisfactory for various reasons. I've not tried using a wetsuit - as many floating hide / submerged users favour.

Nearest I've come to using a submerged camera was a 40D + 400 / 5,6 + AFinder, inside a glass fish tank, submerged so that the lens centreline was approx at water level. Murky water basically rendered half the frame useless, and likewise the majority of the AF points ... T'was a short experiment

Using the gear I do - at the edge of the water / shoreline (or very shallow water < 6in) keeps me out of the water when using the gear ... and from what I've seen on the net ... allows for the lens to be much closer to the water than many floating hide setups (depending on conditions, of course

)
There's typically < 1in air gap under the lens hood.

Feel free to pm me if you want any details about any of this junk I use ...

I've never met Peter, but his blog is one of the few that I read ...

A pint (or 2) sounds good

pp