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damonmcdonald

This gentle and elegant mother protects her calf, all the time allowing us the incredible opportunity to share in the moment. Filmed in the Silver Bank, north of Dominican Republic.

This gentle and elegant mother protects her calf, all the time allowing us the incredible opportunity to share in the moment. Filmed in the Silver Bank, north of Dominican Republic.

Feb, 2020

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1221

Likes

+160

Awards

Contest Finalist in Virtual Exhibition Project

Contest Finalist in My Best Capture Photo Contest vol2

Featured

Summer 2020

Peer Award

+454

Absolute Masterpiece

Magnificent Capture

Top Choice

Superb Composition

Outstanding Creativity

Superior Skill

All Star

Genius

Virtuoso

Emotions

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Behind The Lens

Location

This was taken in the waters of the Silver Bank, north of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.

Time

I am not sure of the time of day, however, we were in and out of the water all day long, enjoying the company of these creatures. It was most likely afternoon, but you easily lose track of all time!

Lighting

As SCUBA is not allowed, we drift just below the surface and hope for the best conditions. The water was turbulent that week so visibility was low most times.

Equipment

I was using my Nikon D810 along with a Nauticam housing and associated underwater gear. As it was my first time using the housing, I was not able to manage neutral buoyancy so a Nat Geo photographer I was with, grabbed the housing, some duct tape and mobile weights, wrapped the housing about 30 times and threw it in the water to test. Perfect buoyancy!

Inspiration

I've always loved the whales. Its been on that big bucket list of mine, and since I already had some gear, I decided to learn to film underwater. However, when you have a 40,000 kg animal jump out of the water, you sometimes forget to hit the buttons!

Editing

As there was a lot of debris and particulate matter, I had to drop clarity and increase noise reduction to help effectively soften and blur out the distracting areas. The rest of the image was luck.

In my camera bag

I'm normally catching landscapes so I have my D810 with Nikon glass covering everything from 11 mm up to 200. I don't carry filters and I always carry my Manfrotto CXPro4 tripod.

Feedback

It was a major learning curve to take the camera underwater. The biggest problem was maintaining buoyancy as the air locked in the housing kept pulling the housing to the surface. My suggestion: practice beforehand. I lost many opportunities for not knowing what to do in some situations.

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damonmcdonald

damonmcdonald

This gentle and elegant mother protects her calf, all the time allowing us the incredible opportunity to share in the moment. Filmed in the Silver Bank, north of Dominican Republic.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow damonmcdonald

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