Here’s another shot from my trip to Tonga in August. As I probably mentioned in a previous post, we were dealing with a lot of particles in the water (algae), so it was difficult to get clear, “smooth” shots during the week.
Often times converting to monochrome in post helped cut down on the visible noise and particles… but sometimes it was effective in enhancing the mood of a shot too. In this case, the high contrast of light and dark on this whale made black and white a good choice (IMO)… I just wish the white extended farther down the tail, so that was a bit more visible.
Canon 1DXII
Canon 17-40mm
ISO 1250
1/400th
f/8
AquaTech housing
This is one of my favorites of yours Max, Jennifer and I desperately want to go swim with the whales in Tonga someday.
I’m seeing a lot of posterization in the water, I see it on your website too, maybe just from too much compression on the jpg. Otherwise absolutely stunning.
I have a feeling that’s probably the remnants of the “glow” that seems to occur in the water surrounding lighter parts of the body, something that was quite common with many of the shots from this trip. Zooming in I definitely see what you’re referring to. It’s a major challenge to remove, and I probably didn’t spend as much time on that as I could have. Thanks for pointing it out… it will definitely require more attention before going to print.
