rspmd23 Loc: NYC , now in Westlake, Florida

Heading out tomorrow morning from Lahaina on a photo tour to shoot the whales.
Any recommendations as to settings, etc. I have my D810 with Nikon 200-500 and a 1.4 extender if I need it.
Thanks

tkraatz

Too many variables to try and give you exposure settings. Good luck and happy hunting.

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alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

I used the same lens on a D500, except the extender, in Alaska for humpbacks. The crew got us too close for me to keep the whales in the frame. The boat we were in was rising and falling with the swells and the whales are moving around too. I wished I had something like a 100 mm or a 150 mm on it.

With a full-frame, you should have that covered.

I shot at 1/1000. F8, auto ISO, and group focus.

Silver506 Loc: Colorado

I just got back from Maui. I shot whales on the water a total of six days. In my opinion, you should use a shorter lens. I recommend a 24-105, 70-200, or at most 100-400. In addition, I also recommend using Auto ISO and a fast shutter speed, like 1/2000 if possible. You can vary your focal length somewhat but I would recommend finding the hyper-focal distance and locking it in. On every trip, whales same right up to and even passed under the boat.

I also recommend using a small boat if you aren't prone to being sea sick. These operators generally use a pontoon style boat that is fast and agile and only carries a maximum of 26 passengers. Most vendors bring a naturalist along to describe the whale behavior you will witness and provide interesting factual information about these wonderful mammals.

Book your excursions as soon as you can. You don't need to wait until you get there.I also recommend booking trips on the water early in the day. I tried to get on the 8-10am excursions. The wind is usually less, the water glassy, and its cooler. The whales will be there at this hour!

If you shoot from land, keep in mind that there is moisture in the air and that long distance photography suffers. Things like ocean mist, heat waves, winds and temperature all can adversely affect your images.

I shoot whales every year in Hawaii. This year is the best year that I have experienced in the last five years easily. There are lots of whales!

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Depends on the boat crew.
We used a 100-400mm and got excellent shots.
Never needed anything else, a TC would extend too much I believe and changing would occur at inopportune times.
I sometimes kept it at 100 to get the target then zoomed quickly as needed. There are times the wider is needed and even 200 would be too long as we had many times cranked back to 100 to get the shot.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

Hey, rsp, while I can't offer any suggestions as I only used a Bridge camera on my Whaling adventures, I do hope you will report back to us after your wonderful experience and share what you learned.

knessr

I have shot a lot of whales - Hawaii, Mexico, Alaska, British Columbia. Two things to remember: one, you never know where they will surface and two, when they do everything happens fast, especially breaches, so you don't have much time to adjust settings.

From my experience, this is what works best for me:
- Set to autofocus
- Use a high shutter speed - at least 2,000 - and fairly wide aperture - f5.6 or f8. You don't need much depth of field as it will most likely be water all around the whale anyway. Just enough depth to keep the whale in focus.
- Use continuous shooting instead of single shot. That way you are more likely to get a good shot out of a 3 or 4-shot burst instead of one shot at a time.
- If your camera has the capability, take some video footage too. You can always grab frames from inside a video although they won't be as good as taking photos in the first place. Breaches are especially fun looking at on video.
- Use a zoom telephoto. I used to use a 70-200mm, but have recently went to a 100-400mm.

Post some shots after your trip.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

If sunny, use the sun setting of 1/iso at f16. So, if your iso is 500, then you sunshine setting should be 1/500 at f16. Take some shots before you go to see if this setting is correct and adjust as necessary as water reflections can effect your camera meter if your using anything but manual.
You 200-500 should be fine. VR on, and make sure you are set to SPORT.
I would recommend shooting at least at 1/1500 sec. or faster to make up for any motion of the boat.

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

To simplify, using the exposure triad priority in this situation would go to shutter speed, adjusting ISO and aperture to get the fast shutter speed you will need. Long ago I shot whales in Baja and it was a memorable experience. Have a great time!

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

I’d skip the extender if you can. You will have enough motion to control stability as is with the 500mm.

I just set my shutter to as fast as I can set it and point and shoot at 10 FPS.

Heading out today myself out of Dana Point for 8 hr. Tour.

scubadoc Loc: Sarasota, FL

Since you are shooting black objects against a fairly bright background, I would use exposure compensation to increase your exposure by 1 stop. A polarizing filter will eliminate glare from the water.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

Many of the best whale (and penguin) shots I’ve seen were from a good cell phone camera. The videos: same thing.
My own shooting from big boats has been best with a 100-400, sometimes with a 1.4 extender. From Zodiacs: the 24 - 105. In all cases a strong image stabilizer is very, very helpful.

RodM Loc: SE Virginia

200-500 should be perfect, maybe Nikon can help with decent exposure. I used a 150-600 and used 500-600 most of the time. It is illegal for the boat to get too close. Perhaps 100 yards, I forget.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Not for the whale to get close and they will go under and come up right by the boat in my experience.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

Assuming you are about to wake up for your whale-watching date, good advice already. I would add brace yourself well on the boat so you move with it, then try to shoot just as the boat hits top or bottom of wave cycle (whales don't always cooperate). Leave extender in the hotel.