A quiet day on the coast, when suddenly...

kdog

BTW, that photo was taken by my 15 y/o daughter. We were out on a boat and there were a pod of whales feeding on schools of anchovies that they're herding in close to shore in very shallow water. That whale is in no more than 15' of water. Even so, it's incredibly difficult to shoot them because they pop up in random places and are only visible for about two seconds. That's not much time to react, focus and frame your shot from a rocking boat. That was probably the best shot of the day.

David_S85

Good catch! What serendipity to get that! Make sure you throw him back in so he can get bigger. And hats off to your daughter for the shot. She needs her own Smugmug account and Dgrin access.

denisegoldberg

That is amazing!
Congrats to your daughter for her photo...

--- Denise

Cornflake

Wow. Tell your daughter she did better than most of us do with a stationary subject.

Stumblebum

Omg!:jawdrop
She is making rest of us look bad!

kdog

David_S85 wrote: »

Good catch! What serendipity to get that! Make sure you throw him back in so he can get bigger. And hats off to your daughter for the shot. She needs her own Smugmug account and Dgrin access.

Yeah, it was right around then that I said, "we're gonna need a bigger boat".

kdog

denisegoldberg wrote: »

That is amazing!
Congrats to your daughter for her photo...

--- Denise

Thank you, Denise! Believe it or not, this is the first time she's gone on a shoot with me and we had a blast.

kdog

Cornflake wrote: »

Wow. Tell your daughter she did better than most of us do with a stationary subject.

Thanks, Don. I'm really proud of her.

kdog

Stumblebum wrote: »

Omg!:jawdrop
She is making rest of us look bad!

I know, right? What should her punishment be? A new camera?

ziggy53

Breaching whale in 15 feet of water and that close to your position, and she had the presence of mind to make that perfect capture; Amazing!

This is certainly a contender for National Geographic Kids, International Photography Contest (US), "Amazing Animals". The 2016 contest opens August 1 and the rules are here:

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/contests/international-photography-contest-rules/

willard3

Great foto and the gulls chose to frame it as well.

kdog

ziggy53 wrote: »

Breaching whale in 15 feet of water and that close to your position, and she had the presence of mind to make that perfect capture; Amazing!

This is certainly a contender for National Geographic Kids, International Photography Contest (US), "Amazing Animals". The 2016 contest opens August 1 and the rules are here:

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/contests/international-photography-contest-rules/

Thanks, Zig. Awesome idea, but sadly the rules say you have to be 14 or younger to enter. She's 15.

kdog

willard3 wrote: »

Great foto and the gulls chose to frame it as well.

Thanks, Willard!

travelways

Wow - Fantastic!!! clap

roaddog52

Great capture! thumb Kudos to your daughter, her quick reaction and an image of a lifetime.

Phil

kdog

travelways wrote: »

Wow - Fantastic!!! clap

Thanks, Tatianna.

roaddog52 wrote: »

Great capture! thumb Kudos to your daughter, her quick reaction and an image of a lifetime.

Phil

Thanks, Phil! Reaction-time was really the key element in shooting the whales, and I have to say that she killed me at it. The whales beach with their mouths open and then close it almost immediately to trap the fish. So getting your comp with their mouth open takes extremely fast reflexes.

black mamba

Whoa !!!! That's a quite stunning shot. Kudos to your daughter.

Tom

Juano

Wow!

bristlecone

Wow Joel. Great shot, congrats to your daughter.
best,
-Len