Any time you see the fins. Resident year-round here — mornings are calmest.
100-400 · 300–400mmNo filterHood on
- Mode
- Tv
- Aperture
- camera decides (it'll be f/8)
- Shutter
- 1/1600
- ISO
- Auto (max 6400)
- Drive
- High-speed continuous
- Focus
- Servo · Whole area · Subject: Animals · Eye on
Do this
- Hood on, stabiliser on. Tv mode, dial to 1/1600. Right key → high-speed continuous.
- Watch first, shoot second. They surface in a rhythm — count it. Pre-focus by half-pressing on the water where they last came up.
- When a fin breaks, hold the shutter for a one-second burst. Then wait for the next rhythm.
- Get higher if you can — the promenade or a dune, not the sand. From above, the water is a cleaner background.
- Frame slightly wider than you think (300 not 400). They move sideways faster than you can pan.
If it goes wrong
- Focus locks on the waves, dolphin soft
- Q menu → AF area → Flexible Zone, keep it on the dolphins' line. Or tap the screen on a dolphin as it surfaces.
- Grey, mushy, no detail
- Too far and too much haze. Nothing to fix in camera — get closer (the pier), or accept a small dolphin in a big sea, which is also a photo.
- Motion blur
- You're below 1/1000. Stay at 1/1600; if the light is poor, let ISO climb. Grain beats blur.