Whale Watching

[jjjnettie]

While up at Rainbow Beach, we took a day trip up to Hervey Bay for a Whale Watching cruise.
We were very fortunate to have fantastic weather and calm seas.
I really wish that the pictures were of better quality, but it wasn't until I downloaded the photos onto the computer, that I realised that I wasn't achieving perfect focus with the 20D. My new polarising filter is a piece of crap.:mad2::doh: I should have had a test run before using it on something like this. Lesson learned.
I've sharpened them the best I could, and here they are.
Lucky I took the little Canon S3IS with me and captured some very nice video and images with it.

[jjjnettie]

Oh, it's a very young baby whale playing around, breaching.
The baby and his mother are practising their synchronised swimming.

[iceman]

Wow i'm soo jealous! We went on a whale cruise a few years ago and they just didn't do anything like that so the photos I got were disappointing.

Great stuff JJJ.

[jjjnettie]

Thanks Mike.
It was very special to be out there with them.
I'm all for going out again next year, to make up for the fuzzy fotos.

[RB]

I'm jealous to jjj !!!
These shots look good, especially the image scale !!
I bet you were so excited at the time. :)

[h0ughy]

wow nice shots JJJ

[ving]

i was whale watching at ulladulla just a few days ago. got some pics but they were a bit too far away to get any real detail... man it was a hoot tho.

lovely pics jeanette!

[erick]

Must have been a great trip, Jeanette.

What was the specific problem with the polarising filter? Upsetting the autofocus?

[Liz]

Wow, still beautiful pics jjj, gorg colours and whales still must have been reasonably close. Always beautiful to see :)

[sheeny]

Nice work JJJ!

Was your polarising filter a circular polariser or a normal one? A lot of digital cameras need a circular polarising filter (it polarises with the magnetic and electrical field components of the light out of phase by 90°) to achieve focus.

Al.

[jjjnettie]

Blowed if I know. I just screwed it to the front of the lens, then adjusted the filter lens till I got the look I wanted.
I knew that when I used auto focus, it would move with the lens, but thought at least it would protect the camera lens from the sea spray.
I would have been better off just using my UV filter instead.
But no, I had to be smart and try something different.
I'll be kicking myself over this for ages.:doh:

[sheeny]

:lol: I know the feeling! We all do these things:rolleyes::whistle:.

Even the circular polariser will need adjustment after at least a rough focus (due to lens rotation).

Al.

[ving]

... unless you have a non rotating lens front like mine (and i thought most others too). I popped a UV filter on my VR lens as soon as i got it but it was a cheap philipenes made hoya and it made pictures look really bad.