Thar, she blows! I don’t care if I’m on the dock or in a kayak, and I’ll even pay to see whales in the beautiful Pacific Ocean. I call them the paparazzi boats. Like the photographers who chase stars for the supermarket tabloids, I arm myself with my best equipment, pay my $100 or so and eagerly await the intersection between our little boat and the everyday world of the leviathans of the deep.  Like the paparazzi, I’m looking to sneak a peak of the cetaceans and capture the moment on film, or sensor.  I don’t think of it in a bad way, I am a paparazzi whale photographer, and proud of it!

Today’s whales aren’t really whales at all. They are the biggest dolphins on the planet. I knew from childhood they did jumps and spins thanks to the TV show Flipper and all the advertisements for Shamu down the coast at Sea World. During my youthful days I thought people trained them to do the fancy tricks we saw but as I read more I came to understand the trainers simply worked with the dolphins and orcas to do their tricks on demand.

One day while paddling my kayak in Monterey Bay one fall day a humpback came up to our little pod of paddlers to pay a visit. I was hooked! Many people thing being 10 feet from a forty ton, forty-foot-long whale is crazy, stupid, or scary, but I was excited. We have orcas in Monterey bay, but I’ve never seen one. My orca sightings have always been in Puget Sound, Washington.

I take my equipment seriously when I put on my paparazzi hat. My list is not for the faint of wallet. Scrimp on the equipment and you might as well use your phone.

Use a crop sensor DSLR. The crop sensor makes my lens think it’s longer by half than it really is. It also gives me full control of the process and allows me to shoot manual, aperture or shutter priority. By looking through the viewfinder at the scene I don’t have to worry about a lag between the screen and the shutter. Next, I want the longest zoom lens I can afford. I also want a big storage card (whatever the model takes). If the trip is very good the other guests on the boat will be bored long before I will so I need to keep shooting. I also want a polarizer for my lens, probably a 77mm, which is the professional size.

Rent long expensive lenses. These photos were taken with a Canon 7D. I didn’t own the camera very long and never intended to invest in the Canon system, so I rented a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens from BorrowLenses.com. It cost me about $100 for the week. The 7D has a 1.6 crop factor giving me equivalent of a 640mm lens (400 x 1.6 = 640).

Shoot in shutter priority. It’s hard to know when and where a wild animal is going to do anything, and they aren’t in the frame very long. A rule of thumb is to set the shutter no lower than the size of the lens, in this case round the number to 1/500.

Avoid the temptation to only put the animal in the scene. Of course, you want some picture with the animal filling the frame if possible, but don’t limit yourself to the one composition. Part of the experience of being on the whale watching boat is the other boats that join in the chase. In the Sound, there is a lot of commercial traffic. Include other boats in the frame to provide perspective and help tell you r story. Did you know boat strikes are one of the leading killers of whales in the wild?

Do you homework before you go. You should know what you are looking for if you want good photos. Do the whales travel alone or in pairs? Do they travel I groups? In the case of a whale, how long does the species you are viewing disappear, minutes or long portions of the hour? One good example is the famous humpback tail. When that tail goes vertical s/he is going deep, and you may not see him for 15-20 minutes.

Bring a standard lens. Part of the story is the people on the boat and the inevitable dolphins surfing the wake of the boat. Your 300-500mm lens is useless in these situations. Interchangeable lenses are one of the joys of owning a DSLR.

Don’t spend all the time behind the camera. Enjoy the time with the whales, others on the boat, and the people who joined you on the excursion.

Enough of my advice. If you’re inspired put a date on your calendar to be a paparazzi yourself. If you see a photo you like put a note in the comments. They’re all for sale.