A case of the photographer not up to the task...

Didereaux · Sep 12, 2016

Gorgeous morning. Early morning a few thunder heads around, hardly any wind so decided to drive out on the dike for a look see. ran into a small pod of Bay Porpoise headed back up the shipping channel after following a couple shrimpers in bound. I stopped had the long lens on ( 600mm) watched them to see about how far they were traveling before each blow, got focused and tried to catch them rising. Not only did they rise they decided to play! I was in 7th heaven, you don't get this kind of action very often and never with good light......sonuva*&^**^h I forgot to put my speed up high enough! had it on 1600 and I need at least 2000 with that lens because I am getting very shaky in my advancing decrepitude. Nonetheless had a ball. :headbang:

...and the one I wanted most of all ...was the worst of the lot....

astroNikon · Sep 12, 2016

ahh, the joy of seeing them play in their habitat irregardless of the advancing decrepitude.

lol

I've been in a rush before with birds and have blown the shutter speed. lol

great shots none the less.

Didereaux · Sep 12, 2016

astroNikon said:
ahh, the joy of seeing them play in their habitat irregardless of the advancing decrepitude. lol

I've been in a rush before with birds and have blown the shutter speed. lol

great shots none the less.

thanks!

HughGuessWho · Sep 12, 2016

That sucks. I think everyone has been in the position many times before. It's great that you were still able to capture the action personally, though. Most people will never experience that sight in person.

Overread · Sep 12, 2016

Sometimes we see things and we want to photograph them but I think its always good, esp with something like this, to be able to step back and say. "Sure photos are nice but I can appreciate and enjoy what I am and have experienced with this."
And it sounds like you've managed just that; sure the photos didn't come out as one would have liked or hoped but you've got a few nice shots and you've had a great experience and seen something that many many people will never ever see in the flesh. And seeing things in the flesh; in reality is far more real and amazing than in the land of the TV

petrochemist · Sep 13, 2016

If it's any consolation I think a faster shutter speed would have made the last one worse.
It's not movement that's the problem here but the focus has missed the subject & instead caught the waves behind it which are more distant with it's higher leap.

Despite the softness it's still a shot I'd love to have taken. Photographer/equipment failures in times of sudden opportunity is a very familiar thing. Most of the time there's no photographic evidence at all.

The only shot I've ever managed of dolphins/porpoises in the wild has needed extreme cropping to show anything at all, probably only leaving ~200 pixels across so it's not worth looking at just serving as proof to the family who were with me that I did see one...

Didereaux · Sep 13, 2016

petrochemist said:
If it's any consolation I think a faster shutter speed would have made the last one worse.
It's not movement that's the problem here but the focus has missed the subject & instead caught the waves behind it which are more distant with it's higher leap.

Despite the softness it's still a shot I'd love to have taken. Photographer/equipment failures in times of sudden opportunity is a very familiar thing. Most of the time there's no photographic evidence at all.

The only shot I've ever managed of dolphins/porpoises in the wild has needed extreme cropping to show anything at all, probably only leaving ~200 pixels across so it's not worth looking at just serving as proof to the family who were with me that I did see one...

I think you are absolutely correct about the focus. As I said in the OP I had to try and guess where they would rise next and focus on the spot. DOF was of necessity shallow because of the light and shutter speed to keep ISO @ 1600 or less. I use BB focus so when they jumped closer than I guessed I missed it. Good catch. I had missed that.