By: Brad R Lewis
Date: May 2019
Location: Monterey Bay - Santa Cruz, Moss Landing, Monterey, Point Lobos - CA - USA

During the month of May, there has been a lot of great activity on Monterey bay, dozens of whales and thousands of dolphins. These three Humpback Whales were lunge-feeding late in the after. This photo was taken during an all-day Monterey Bay Whale Watching trip from Moss Landing, CA with Fast Raft and owner/operator/naturalist Captain Kate, what a great day.

Camera Equipment: Nikon D5, 70-200mm f/2.8 with 1.4x teleconverter or 300mm f/2.8 with 1.4x teleconverter.  Due to size and weight, my favorite lens for photographing whales on any size boat is the 70-200mm f/2.8.  

Camera Settings: Typically from smaller boats, under 50', I keep my shutter speed at 1/1600.  Since the cloud cover changes rapidly during the day on Monterey Bay, I shoot in Aperture Priority mode with Auto ISO.  If the day is very gloomy, overcast, I will switch to manual mode, which allows me to keep my shutter speed at 1/1600.  I'm not too fond of faster shutter speeds since I like little motion blur in the water droplets.  To see specific camera settings for each photo, click on the photo, and then on the left side, choose the Photo Details icon (triple dash aka Hamburger).

Humpback Whale Gallery - A Gallery of my favorite Humpback Whale Photos

Brad R Lewis Photography – Nature and Wildlife Photographer Brad’s dual passion for the outdoors and photography have led him to focus his work on wildlife habitats and conservation. His works are used by conservation groups and wildlife refuges to help illustrate their causes.