Whale Watching - How to shoot it? Canon Rebel

[dibbs]

I plan on going whale watching at 9:30am and have no idea how to be able to shoot. I really don't want to miss taking great photos on this great trip. It is going to be a bright sunny day and any words of advise would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Talaska]

If it is going to be a bright sunny day you should be able to keep the ISO fairly low. If at all possible I would probably shoot 400 iso to be able to keep the shutter speed up to be able to stop action of the whales and any other marine animals you will encounter. Camera should be on AV Servo with the drive on multiple so as long as you hold the shutter button down the camera will fire. Personally I like the AV mode where I control the aperature which I would set about f8 and hopefully the shutter speed will be above 1/1000th of a second. Try to keep the shutter speed above 1/500th because of the moving subjects and the boat rocking. Tripod would be good, sometimes can be a pain especially if you are not used to using one and there are a lot of people around. What camera and lens are you using? Hopes this helps and good luck.

[Rayk]

lens "IS"?

[halitime]

CPL filter on the longest IS lens you have.

[dibbs]

Thanks a million for all the advise. It is really helpful. I have a Canon Rebel XS EOS and I have two lenses - EFS 18-55 and EFS 55-250. As I am sure you can tell I am a beginner beginner and I appreciate all your feedback

Cheers
Dibbs

[KISS_freak]

I'm a complete newb as well, but would love to see the shots you end up with, and how it worked. I plan on taking some wildlife off a boat as well quit a bit this year. Similar gear, but lenses are IS.

Please post your results, thanks.

[tanner07]

Good luck!

[kdvincent]

It may be difficult for the camera to get a quick focus ona great big black mass. So shoot lotsa frames.
and anticipate the whales a bit. Sometimes you can pre focus on the water in the area the whales is going to be. That may help.
Keith

[Tom Reichner]

I think the biggest challenge will be getting the camera low enough. The best images will be taken with the lens just a couple feet above the water's surface, yet most of the commercial whale watch boats are big and have high decks that force you to shoot from about 10 to 12 feet above the water - a rather nasty angle if you want to get some dramatic separation between a jumping whale and the water's surface. See if there's a way that someone will let you "down below" so that you can shoot thru a porthole window. That'll still be higher than you want, but much better than shooting from the deck where everybody else is shooting from.