How to Take Photos of Whales and Whale Sharks Underwater
A mother humpback leads her calf through the shallows. Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Matt Reichel.
The Art of Documenting Massive Pelagic Species Underwater
There is a beauty when photographing massive pelagic marine wildlife underwater that is hard to describe. As a photographer who only started getting into underwater photography four years ago, it’s opened up a new appreciation and respect for the ocean.
Photographing and documenting humpback whales and whale sharks have been some of the best experiences of my life and I’m happy to share some pointers on how to capture these incredible animals in their habitat.
I now spend every September and October running a special whale swimming boat in the Austral Islands bringing people into the water to experience these moments for themselves. Throughout the journey, I’ve gotten a lot of questions, especially from new underwater photographers, on how to best capture these intimate moments in the sea. The following list helps shed some light on my processes for documenting these incredible animals.
Looking to Swim with Humpbacks?
1. Know your gear inside and out before you travel
When both diving and free-diving, I find that my breathing slows, I calm down, and find a feeling of inner peace when carefully working with a camera underwater. If you have not used an underwater camera housing before, it may take some getting used to. They are clunky and heavy; you have to balance carrying it with swimming; you will need to know where all your usable buttons and knobs are. For photographing whales and whale sharks, it’s important to note that you’ll be shooting a massive animal at relatively close proximity, so you’ll need a wide-angle lens with a dome port on your housing. Let me break down your basic gear needs:
Underwater Housings
This is the case that holds your camera, keeps it dry, and allows you to access the camera’s functions underwater— and they are all made to be body-specific for DSLR and mirrorless cameras. Housings are not cheap and can range from being even more expensive than your camera itself to prices hovering around $500. I’ve used three brands over the past few years and will list them and the differences below.
When purchasing a housing, you should note that the housing and the port (i.e. the part that protects /covers the lens) are sold separately and only fit specific lenses. Therefore not only do you have to think about your camera body, but also the lenses you have and are planning on using.
Nauticam— top-of-the-line products, but also the most expensive. Great for professionals who want something super durable, safe, and can carry glass ports.
Ikelite— solid housings, mid-range prices
Seafrogs— works well up to 40m in depth, most affordable bang-for-buck housings
A videographer documents adult humpbacks. Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Matt Reichel.
Dome Port and Wide Angle Lenses
In order to photograph whales (and many other large aquatic animals), you’ll need a dome for your underwater housing. This will allow you to use a wide-angle lens and will offer a more natural final image of the spectacle you see in the water. Typically, to photograph whales and whale sharks, you’ll want to use a wide-angle lens between 11mm and 35mm, as you will be very close to the animals.
GoPros
GoPros are also great if you want to shoot videos of whales underwater since they are both wide-angle as well as fixed aperture sports cameras. Unlike a DLSR or mirrorless camera in a u/w housing, GoPros are the underwater version of a point and shoot. Stabilization technology and quality were greatly improved with the HERO 7 Black and HERO 6 Black , so I’d recommend going for one of those if you want to shoot on a GoPro. One option is to attach a GoPro to the top of your underwater housing and roll video. This way you can do both at the same time.
A juvenile whale shark swims through a school of sardines in murky water. Baja California Sur, Mexico. Matt Reichel.
2. Get your settings ready as much as possible before getting into the water.
You should prepare your settings as best as possible before you jump into the water. Once you get in, you’ll be mesmerized by the whales and with the Adeline pumping, you’re going to want to focus on your subject, not fiddling with your settings.
First, remember that light is very important and that because whales are massive, you’re going to want a decently high depth of field to get them in focus. This means you’ll typically want to shoot with an aperture around f/8 (more or less a couple of stops). If light conditions are not very bright, you may want to bump your iso up a bit to compensate for the smaller aperture— plan on shooting between iso 500 and 1600, or higher if visibility is poor. You’re also going to want to shoot with a minimum of 1/250 shutter speed to account for movement. It is better to shoot at 1/500 if possible.
If you notice the corners/edges of your photographs are blurry or out of focus, you will need to increase the depth of field by upping your f-stop a bit. This is due to shooting through a dome.
Always check your photos between dives and readjust your settings as needed, ideally without having to open up your housing unit.
A mother humpback with her young calf dodge advances from two males. Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Matt Reichel.
3. Shoot wide
Whales and whale sharks are huge. And when photographing them you get close, we’re talking just a couple metres away. A wide-angle lens with a dome is going to be your friend when photographing whales underwater— typically between 11 and 35mm with the sweet spot around 15-20mm for whales and 11-15mm for whale sharks.
If your housing unit does not allow you to adjust zoom, remember to set your focal length if shooting on a zoom lens before putting your camera into the housing. Since you’ll be shooting on and off a boat, you’re not going to want to open your housing unit ideally until you’re back on solid land. I will typically leave a fixed zoom on a given day and if I want to try something else, I’ll switch it up the next day.
A whale shark swims in the deep waters off the South Ari Atoll, Maldives. Matt Reichel.
4. Dive down for more natural angles
If you’re with a particularly playful bunch of whales (with no calves present), you can dive down 5 to 10 metres to get a better angle— ideally you want to photography from the animal’s eye line or slightly below.
5. Shoot slow-mo video
When shooting video, you’re going to want to shoot at 120fps (or at least 100fps depending on your region and camera settings) for video in order to be able to slow to 1/4 speed. This will help counter all of the movement and rolling waves you typically get in actual speed underwater video.
A mother humpback lifts her calf on her head to help it breathe. Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Matt Reichel.
6. Embrace early morning sun and mid-day clouds
There’s a fine balance with lighting conditions for photographing whales. In the early morning, the sun is great, since it adds lots of nice, angled light. Mid-day sun can be problematic for photographing whales, since the sun reflects on the surface of the waves, causing a rippled effect to be mirrored onto the backs of the whales, or a tunnel-vision like effect if shooting downwards into the water.
If you see a cloud approaching to block direct sun rays and disperse the light across the ocean’s surface get ready to go, as these are ideal conditions!
A whale shark takes in gulps of water to filter it for plankton. Baja California Sur, Mexico. Matt Reichel.
7. Always check your dome for bubbles.
Photographing whales involves quite a bit of jumping in and out of boats. All this motion may result in small air bubbles forming on the outside of your dome— and these buggers will appear in your photos unless you clear them off the end of the dome by gently brushing them away with your hand or pushing water over the dome’s surface with a little bit of force. Remember to check your dome every once in a while while in the water to make sure nothing is blocking it.
8. Set your display to back screen mode.
Many cameras are set the display mode to automatic by default. This is not great for underwater photography, as looking through the housing into the viewfinder is just too small to possibly use effectively. Therefore, you should manually switch the display mode to only use the back screen.
9. Focus using continuous AI Servo
Much like any type of wildlife photography, AI Servo mode will help your camera maintain its focus on your subject, even if it moves. Since whales and whale sharks move, once you lock onto your subject you do not want to keep having to refocus. AI Servo will help you lock your focus better. Additionally, using the half-shutter push focus option is beneficial for underwater photography, since you only really have space to keep your hand on the shutter while stabilizing the housing with the other.
A humpback mother and baby swim peacefully at the surface. Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Matt Reichel.
10. Never forget to compose your shots properly
There is a tendency in underwater photography and videography to put your subject in the centre of the viewfinder. This may lead to a ton of unwanted blue space next to your subject on one side while cutting part of the subject off on the other.
With everything else going on, it’s important to still compose your shots correctly, thinking about the desired end result you’re going for. I’ve botched tons of photos by pushing the whale’s head too far into the middle of the frame and thus cutting off the tail.
If you’re interested in joining me on future expeditions, check out my project in the Austral Islands for more information.
