Past, Present, and...

Past, Present, and Future

I had an image request today for an "unusual" Orca shot, so went combing thru my files and found this shot from 2006 sitting there in raw, unprocessed form. Bonus.

I liked how the vapour rising from an exhalation seconds before helped convey a sense of the recent past, and how the head just dipping into the water portended a coming dive. Seconds later all traces of the Orca were gone - but the pixels remain.

I've talked many times in my image commentaries about seeking out unusual lighting to produce dramatic images. In this case it was late afternoon and we had strong, low-level backlighting that illuminated the vapour, water droplets and the Orca itself from behind (and behind everything was a vertical cliff in deep shade). Only exposure adjustments and light sharpening performed on this image.

Subject: Killer Whale or Orca (Orcinus orca) initiating a dive
Location: Northern BC Coast (Great Bear Rainforest), Canada
Camera: Nikon D2x
Lens: Nikkor 300 mm f2.8 VR lens - handheld. VR on and in "Normal" mode.
Exposure: 1/2500s at f2.8. ISO 200. -1.33 stop compensation from matrix metered exposure.
Crop: Full frame vertically, a little cropped off each end

Comments and feedback greatly appreciated...probably better to view larger version prior to doing so...

Cheers...

Brad