Advice for Photographers

With luck, breathtaking photos of your close encounter will be the highlight of your album. Unfortunately, most of us can't count on luck. Even professionals can spend days with whales without a single quality photo. So what can you do to enjoy your trip and take the best possible photos of your trip? Look before you shoot, bring the right equipment, and stay alert.

First of all, enjoy the trip. If a photo is worth a thousand words, a memory is worth a thousand photos. Absorb the scene with your eye. If you don't see the whale, you can't capture the image.

If you've never seen a whale before, don't expect to capture the first sighting on film. Everything happens quickly and is so enthralling, that most people don't appreciate what they are seeing immediately. The first show is for your eye, strive to catch the next with your equipment. If there is no second show, at least you've got the memory.

For the best images, I suggest you use a fully automatic 35mm SLR camera. Your focus should be on your timing, not your equipment. The best lens is a fast zoom with a maximum focal distance of no more than 300mm. Anything larger will be too sensitive to motion, too dark, and won't capture close ups. Your shutter speed should stay at or above 1/500 of a second.

To capture professional images, load ASA 50 or 100 film. However, ASA 200 or 400 film captures shots that would have been impossible on anything slower, with only a slight loss of quality when ASA 50 or 100 would have been better.

Equipment does not a photographer make. Far more important is alertness and timing. When you are near whales, keep your eyes on the horizon and camera at the ready. Have you seen that chewing gum commercial? Sad but true, many people miss the most dramatic behavior for the smallest reason. Stay alert. If you don't see the first instance of dramatic behavior, then you won't be ready to photograph the second.