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Tail of Whale Z-66
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Tail of Whale Z-66

by Milo Burcham

Gallery: WildlifePosted November 27, 20033,785 views6 comments
Humback whale, Prince William Sound, Alaska
EOS 1N, 100-400/4.5-5.6 IS, Provia 100+1 (spot metered off bow of boat)
Lightning struck a couple times that same day early this month and here is another horizon that is straight! From the photos that day, I was able to identify 3 individuals from a catalog of whales of Prince William Sound. This one is Z-66. Another one we recorded on film that day was first cataloged as an adult in 1979! We turned in the report to whale researchers in Homer.

Comments

6 comments
Comment posted by Michael Bates on November 27, 2003 at 6:43 AM
Cool shot, Milo!!! I DO see a level horizon :wink: AND - a perfectly composed whale tail! This is nice!!

Michael
Registered on November 1, 2003, 149 Posts, 2381 Comments
Comment posted by Bart Breet on November 27, 2003 at 5:05 PM
This is very nice Milo, an other classic!

Bart
Registered on November 12, 2003, 28 Posts, 66 Comments
Comment posted by Anne K on November 28, 2003 at 2:42 AM
That's really nice, Milo. It's a striking image, with the beautiful blue water and the sharp contrast of the tail. Good job on getting this shot. I haven't seen many whales, but I do remember that they would go under, then come up somewhere that you didn't expect, so I'm pretty impressed that you got such a great closeup comp of this one!
:toast:
Registered on November 1, 2003, 162 Posts, 2385 Comments
Comment posted by Skip Layman on November 30, 2003 at 3:24 PM
I've seen a number of good whale tail shots, and this tail is well done. What really puts this over the top for me is the background. All in all a beautiful shot.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 558 Posts, 1704 Comments
Comment posted by E & L Wojciechowsk on December 4, 2003 at 5:50 AM
I agree with Skip. The combination of the sharp image of the tail combined with the mountains in the background add a sense of depth and contrast.

Earl

:toast:
Registered on November 1, 2003, 3 Posts, 11 Comments
Comment posted by Laurie Darcey on October 7, 2005 at 1:27 AM
Beautiful lighting and great contrast.

I can't help feeling though, that you shot this a quarter of a second too late.
Registered on October 6, 2005, 6 Posts, 231 Comments