Come and Get It

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
1

Come-and-Get-It-9123A77XL.jpg
Come-and-Get-It-9123A77XL.jpg2000×1333 2.91 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I rarely shoot wildlife intentionally but when the opportunity presents I’ll try my hand. Chrissy and I did a small boat (60 passengers) tour of Alaska in 2017. The small boats are not constrained to a particular course like the big cruise ships are so when our captain was informed that there was a pod of humpback whales bubble netting near our location we were able to join the party. We stayed a respectable distance away and I learned to anticipate where the whales would breach by watching the gulls gravitate to where the bubbles were coming to the surface ahead of the whales. I took a bunch of shots on burst mode until the buffer filled and then waited for the next event. The whales must have worked over this area for over 20 minutes before moving on.

Technical Details

Sony A77II
Sony 70-400 G @ 250mm
ISO 400, 1/1000 @ f8

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2 Likes
2

Bill, what an exciting event to watch. How many whales are we seeing? I like the triangular composition of the gulls and the whales. The blues accented with the white spray and dark bodies of the whales make for an interesting color palette. I might crop some of the lower third, which has no special interest going on there, but that is just my humble thought.

3

Pretty cool shot–I did some birding and gleaned a few kittiwakes flying around the whale. Awesome crispness…Jim

4

Bill, your framing looks great here, with the birds cleanly filling the air and the whales centered. The flying splashes show the action while the calm water at the bottom makes a fine contrast to the action. What a great experience with a fine “take home” for memory.

1 Like
6

What an awesome spectacle Bill. I was lucky enough to see this type of behavior once up off of Seward Alaska, but it was dark and overcast at the time. This is such a nice shot. Nice focus on birds and beasts. Good color throughout. Another fine image. Sounds like a great excursion to be on.