Kaikoura Dolphins

Hi,

Im going to to do the Kaikoura dolphin snorkel with my canon 20D this weekend and would appreciate some advice on whether to go with strobes or forget the strobes and use a magic filter.

We only have time to do it once and Im going to have to decide before getting on the boat. Im not sure what the viz will be like or how close you can get to the dolphins. Im thinking that if you can't get that close and it's a sunny day then I would be better off with a filter.

On the other hand.......

Any advice from anyone who has done this particular trip would be appreciated.

Cheers, Grant

use magic filter

Hi Grant

I did this trip a couple of years ago. It was excellent. I didn't have a camera at the time, so I can't speak about the photography of the dolphins from personal experience, but we certainly got pretty close.

Most of the dolphin action is in the first few metres of water, so very shallow. Viz wasn't too bad, probably around 12 metres or so on the day we did the trip. We were quite close in to shore, so if there's been alot of rain prior to the trip, run-off from the land could well reduce the viz.

The way the trips work is that they drop snorkellers off in the path of pods of dolphins, who will either swim by or avoid depending on their mood. The dolphins are more likely to hang around if snorkellers are doing lots of interesting stuff (diving down, spinning around, as much underwater acrobatics as possible really). If everyone just paddles around on the surface, the dolphins will probably just buzz past beneath the group.

As you are trying to get photos, I suggest you try to find the best snorkellers on the trip and stick by them in the water, with the aim of their antics attracting dolphins giving you better shooting opportunities.

One caveat: the swim with dolphins operators in Kaikoura are set up for the tourist trade, and many participants are novices with no prior experience of snorkelling. The staff on the boat may help you with getting your rig in and out, but I probably wouldn't count on it, and your fellow snorkellers may possibly be rather less considerate (or less able to be careful due to inexperience with fins, masks and wetsuits etc) around you and your rig than divers on dive charter boats typically are, so you will probably need to be extra vigilant in guarding your gear at all times. It can be a bit of a dog's breakfast getting into the water! For this reason alone, I would avoid taking strobes just to keep the rig more manageable.

Talk to the operator before you go out - I'm sure they will have had people with dSLR rigs in tow before, and can probably advise you on how best to proceed in terms of ensuring your gear doesn't get damaged, even if they can't offer any advice on whether strobes are a good idea photographically.

Hope you have a great trip.

Another cool thing to do in Kaikoura is go snorkelling around the seal colony there. Try to get out in the morning in late afternoon when the tourist groups aren't there. We went out in the morning (just two of us) and got buzzed by seals quite close in to shore.

Dolphins can often move pretty fast - so if it can be well worth cranking up the ISO a bit and also shooting on shutter speed priority (Tv). Use a shutter speed of at least 1/125th.

Alex

I second fishonfilm. You will be much better without the drag from strobe and arms.

The water in Kaikoura is quite green and no light bouncing from the bottom, so IMO you will be better without filter , that way you can use higher speed with the available light.

Also reserve some shoots for the surface , sometimes you can find huge schools of very acrobatic dolphins.

Another great thing to do there is to take a helicopter fly to shoot some aerials of the sperm whales. I don't remember how much it costs ( i was there 7 years ago ) but at that time was not expensive.

Good luck

Thanks guys, think I will go without the filter and strobes and have a strobe handy on the boat in case I change my mind on the day.

I second fishonfilm. You will be much better without the drag from strobe and arms.

 

The water in Kaikoura is quite green and no light bouncing from the bottom, so IMO you will be better without filter , that way you can use higher speed with the available light.

 

Also reserve some shoots for the surface , sometimes you can find huge schools of very acrobatic dolphins.

 

Another great thing to do there is to take a helicopter fly to shoot some aerials of the sperm whales. I don't remember how much it costs ( i was there 7 years ago ) but at that time was not expensive.

 

Good luck

Thanks again and some feedback for anyone who is searching for this thread in the future. The viz was about 2 to 3m and the dolphins move fast. The water is pretty green. I went with high ISO, fast shutter speeds and strobes. I still got only one or two good shots and will post when I am happy with the photoshopping. I reckon I wouldn't have got much without strobes and even less with filters on this occasion. To be honest their promotional photos are shit and if anyone who knew what they were doing went and spent some time taking photos then they should be able to easily sell them back to the tour company.

Regardless of the photo stuff, it is an awesome experience to jump off the back of a boat on front of a pod of a 100 dolphins and even better to repeat the experience 5 times in a morning! We also saw 3 sperm whales in the afternoon but that is another story. Kaikoura is truly amazing :-0

G

This is another reason I love WetPixel! I know this thread is 3 years old, but I'm doing the Dolphin Swim on Sunday and this is exactly the kind of report I was looking for. Thanks for sharing your experience, great to know a little bit about what to expect. Looking forward to it, even if the water is a chilly 16°C, and I'll be happy if I get one or two good shots!