Common Dolphin

[Bibhav Behera]

Shot this at Palolem beach this Sunday.
One would have no idea how much i cursed myself for not increasing the ISO on this one.

Full Frame image.

Canon 1000D, 300mm f/4L IS
SS 1/400 (+1/3EC)
f/8
ISO 200

Comments and Critiques welcome.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Was this taken from boat? I agree that a higher shutter speed would have been good. Did you get any shots with the head out of the water? How many did you sight? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Agree about the iso. Always a treat to watch dolphins :).
P.S. Get the ID confirmed if you can, I think it's an Indo-Pacific Humpback (judging by the pale pinkish patches on the fluke).

[Mrudul Godbole]

The water splash looks nice. Agree with the above comments. Look forward to more. Thanks for sharing.

[Bibhav Behera]

This was taken from a Fibre Body boat. We sighted around 10-12 of them. But the problem being that with a tele it is difficult to anticipate where they would surface due to limited field of view. So I had my eyes just above the viewfinder and lens prefocussed at an anticipated distance. I even removed the TC for faster focussing. So by the time i could get all this done and properly focussed, the head would have submerged! I have a few with the head just in, but I killed the shots because of ISO 200. Expensive mistake for such a sighting. Will be back again this Sunday. Lets see how I deal with the situation then. :)

Abhishek, I will check on the ID. Thanks

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Bibhav,
Do some practice. One needs to know how the trap shooting guys do it. Your lens has to move ahead of the motion to be able to get them in frame. Following them with the lens is like a fielder escorting the ball to the boundary line in a cricket match. :) (Remember the Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri era :D)

Cheers,
Sabyasachi