Whale Watching at Moss Landing

This was my 3rd whale watching trip, just wanted to see the magnificent animal leaping out of the water and slamming back on the ocean surface. Watching a whale breaching is really amazing and photographing that moment would be every wildlife photographer's dream. It does require a lot of luck and I was third time unlucky. Yet, this was the best whale watch trip, far better than my other two.

This is just outside the harbor, not far from the shore, you can see people on Kayak  in the frame

A pair diving Together

A tail with white back

Waterfall from the tail

Barnacles on the tail

More Barnacles

Another pair, almost going down together

This one is completely black

Waterfall from Whale Tail

The White Patches

Anchovies all over the whale's back. These are the one escaped from the whale's mouth but some of them ended up as Sea Gull's Lunch.

Rainbow

Awesome Barnacles

Beautiful WaterFall

WaterFall  from the Tail

How I Got These Amazing Action Shots

Presenting some of my best action shots with the story about How I Got These Shot . I would appreciate your comment.

Common Name	Yellowstone Elk
Scientific Name	Cervus Canadensis
Shooting Location	On the West Thumb Geyser Basin Boardwalk, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA.
The Action
Caption	Elk In the AIR.
The Story	I spent the whole morning at Hayden Valley, hoping to find some animals in action. There, I got some furry Bison bulls and cows, not doing enough action. Disappointed, I drove south and make a stop at West Thumb, just to see the Geysers, especially the ones inside the lake, letting out steam occasionally. As I took the boardwalk, I noticed at distance two cow elks munching on grass near a water source. There were already a large group of tourist approaching that section of the boardwalk. I expected those Elks would run and setup my camera on tripod immediately. One of the Elk was still munching on grass, while the other one slowly walked towards the crowd. Almost everyone in the crowd was already photographing the Elk, mainly with their phone camera. Soon the Elk was spooked and jumped across the boardwalk. Off went my shutter, tac tac tac tac .... I was far but the distance gave me the room I needed to get it in the full frame, thanks to my Nikon D500 and 200-500mm wildlife lens. My Yellowstone visit produced at least one satisfactory shot, this one :)

Common Name	Great Blue Heron
Scientific Name	Ardea Herodias
Shooting Location	Shoreline Lake, Mountain View, CA, USA.
The Action
Caption	Blue Heron Fishing.
The Story	How do you photograph a bird catching fish? I wrote a whole blog with technical details, link available in the main page. Here is the short story. I went to the lake and found this giant bird standing at knee-deep water where fresh water was entering the lake rapidly. Obviously, a nice place to catch fish. I setup my camera and lens low on the ground to get to the water level as much as possible. Then it was all waiting game. At time the bill would go down rapidly, only to come out empty. The bird kept missing, or there were no fish but illusions. I decided to stick with the bird as long as there were lights. The bill kept striking under water at regular interval and I kept shooting. Eventually, just 10 minutes before sunset, he finally got his catch. I did not miss any bit of it. There were probably 15 shots from this incidence, but this one is the best.

Common Name	Coyote
Scientific Name	Canis Latrans
Shooting Location	Tomale Trail, Point Reyes National Park, CA, USA.
The Action
Caption	Pouncing Coyote
The Story	It was a long hike at Tomale Trail where I went to see the Tule Elk, and the wonderful Pacific Coast view. While hiking down, I saw the coyote strolling a bit far above a hill. I continued for my original adventure and returned after 3 hours of arduous hike. I noticed few people crowding around the trail observing something curiously. I immediately knew something interesting was going to happen. I setup my tripod and began mounting by camera, while keeping an eye on the coyote who just spotted something inside a hole. While I kept working on the tripod, I kept one finger on the shutter release button, to make sure I would not miss anything if it pounces too early. Before I could complete my thought, the Coyote was in the air. Off went my shutter release button. I got several pictures in the air, but this one is my favorite.

Nature's Fury	Sunlit Mountain Top
Shooting Location	Highway 140, El Portal, Yosemite National Park, CA, USA.
The Action
Caption	Clearing Storm at Golden Hours
The Story	It was the third week of February, I was driving to Yosemite to shoot Horsetail Fall, the one that lit-up during sunset. The weather was really bad. As I crossed El Portal on Highway 140, I saw the road ahead was completely white. I did not have snow chain in my car, so I had to turn back. I pulled over near the curb, for a comfortable turnaround. When I looked over my right, across the Merced river, this beautiful scene appeared before my eyes. I immediately setup my tripod and took few shots before it disappeared. About 200' ahead, in another turnaround there were already few photographers shooting this. So this is not completely unknown phenomenon, but little known as everyone rushes towards the famous Horsetail Fall during this time. I did go to the Horsetail Fall on the next day, after getting snow chain from a road side van guy who charged 4 times above the store price, but it was anyway worth it. I put this photo ahead of my horsetail photo shot simply because it is more beautiful. This is really a nature's action.