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I had the opportunity to go out on a friend’s yacht yesterday off the coast of San Diego. Initially we hit a bank of fog but within 45 minutes the fog burned off and it was a killer San Diego day. The water was very calm and flat and there was no wind. Truly incredible.
Around 16 miles out at sea we found ourselves in a large pod of dolphin. They were all over the place and I quickly grabbed my camera. I had brought along my Canon 1D Mark II, and both a 70-200 2.8 lens and a 17-35 2.8 lens. I wish I had a 300 or 400mm lens with me, although shooting that tight on a moving boat would prove to be a bit of a challenge.
The dolphins always get to me. I’ve seen them nearly every time I have been out at sea and they are just incredible creatures. They come right up to the boat and play with us for quite some time. We were in the middle of a large pod, perhaps around 500 dolphin. The first pod we came across was in a feeding frenzy which later turned out to be a school of mackeral. The second pod was just huge and they were jumping out of the water and playing all around the boat. They are truly beautiful animals and I just can’t get enough of them.
The one problem I had from a photographic standpoint was metering for above and below water shots. The above the water shots were around ISO 200, F4 @ 4000. The below water shots were around ISO 400, F4 @ 1600-2000. I would try and flip between above and below water but as I was in manual mode there was a slight delay. I tried to shoot in aperture priority mode, however I much prefer manual. What an amazing day out at sea!
