Whale Watching Photography Settings: How to Capture Stunning Whale Photos in the Azores

Use a fast shutter speed of 1/1000s or faster, continuous autofocus (AI Servo/AF-C), and burst mode to photograph whales in the Azores. A zoom lens like 100–400mm with image stabilization is ideal for capturing sharp images from a moving boat.

Wild, remote, and teeming with life, the Azores are a dream destination for wildlife photographers. With over 20 species of whales and dolphins passing through these waters, your odds of spotting something extraordinary are high. But photographing it? That’s another story.

Between the rocking of the boat, the unpredictability of marine behavior, and intense lighting on the open ocean, getting a sharp, well-composed image is no easy task. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the exact camera settings I used on my whale watching trip from Pico Island—along with expert tips on autofocus, lenses, and stabilization—to help you nail your shot.

If you're interested in more wildlife photography destinations, you might also like my article on where to photograph black bears in Quebec.

The Unique Challenge of Whale Photography from a Boat

Photo by Christophe De Mulder

Photographing whales is nothing like shooting wildlife on land. When you’re on a small boat in the middle of the Atlantic, everything is moving—the subject, the water, and you.

• Constant motion: Unlike on land where you can stabilize yourself or a tripod, the boat is always shifting. Even in calm waters, the motion makes framing and focusing a test of balance and timing.

• Unpredictable subjects: Whales surface quickly and often without warning. You’ll rarely get more than a few seconds to locate, frame, and fire your shot—so your settings need to be dialed in before anything appears.

• Bright and reflective lighting: Midday whale tours mean dealing with intense sun reflecting off the ocean. This can confuse your metering, wash out highlights, or cast harsh shadows across the whale’s body.

• Tour pace: Most Azores tours prioritize sightings over slow approaches. Your boat might turn quickly, move fast, or circle wide, giving you just a few chances to shoot.

If you’ve dealt with fast wildlife before, you’ll recognize these challenges. It’s similar to my experience photographing black bears in Quebec—only this time, the terrain under your feet never stops moving.

Best Camera Settings for Whale Watching in the Azores

Photo by James Bold

You won’t have time to fumble with settings once the action starts. The ocean, the whales, and the boat won’t wait—so your best shots will come from setting up in advance and making only small tweaks on the fly.

Here’s the base setup I recommend (and personally used) for whale watching in the Azores:

Shooting Mode: Tv (Shutter Priority) or Manual

• Use Shutter Priority (Tv) if you want to guarantee sharpness and let the camera adjust aperture automatically.

• Choose Manual only if you’re confident handling fast changes in light, especially with backlit scenes.

Shutter Speed: 1/1000s or Faster

• This is the most important setting.

• For breaching whales, tail slaps, and fast-moving dolphins, start at 1/1000s and go up to 1/2000s if the light allows.

Aperture: Let It Open Wide

• On Tv mode, the camera will typically open to your lens’s maximum aperture (f/5.6 or f/6.3).

• That’s okay—depth of field is less critical when your subject is far and isolated against water.

ISO: Auto ISO with a Cap

• Set Auto ISO with a maximum limit of ISO 3200 if your camera handles noise well.

• If you’re using an older body like the Canon 5D Mark III, consider capping at ISO 1600 to avoid grain.

Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1

• Bright reflections off the ocean can trick your camera into underexposing.

• Dial in +1/3 to +1 EV to keep whales from turning into silhouettes.

Autofocus and Drive Mode: How to Lock Focus on a Breach

When a whale surfaces, you don’t get a second chance. Your autofocus and drive settings need to be dialed in before the action begins.

Autofocus Mode: AI Servo / AF-C

Use AI Servo (Canon) or AF-C (Nikon/Sony) to continuously track a moving subject. As long as you keep your focus point on the whale, the camera will adjust in real-time.

• Avoid One-Shot AF / AF-S — it’s too slow and will miss focus if the whale moves (and it will).

• If your camera allows, activate Animal Eye AF or Tracking AF, though these can struggle with water and distance.

Focus Points: Center or Flexible Zone

• Center focus point gives you the most speed and accuracy, especially if you recompose quickly.

• Some mirrorless systems perform better with flexible zone tracking or dynamic AF areas, especially for dolphins or multiple subjects.

Tip: Practice tracking birds in flight before your tour. It's the closest land-based simulation to photographing a breaching whale.

Drive Mode: High-Speed Continuous

• Set to burst mode at full speed.

• You’ll want to fire off 5–10 frames per breach to increase your odds of getting a tack-sharp shot at peak action.

Lens Choice and Stabilization: What to Bring Aboard

Photo by lucas Favre

Whales don’t get close on command, and you’ll often be shooting from 30+ meters away. Your lens needs to bridge that distance while staying sharp on a rocking boat.

Best Lens: 100–400mm (or Equivalent)

A telephoto zoom like a 100–400mm is ideal—it gives you reach for distant breaches and flexibility for closer encounters.

• Canon 100–400mm f/4.5–5.6L IS II (what I used) is a solid performer.

• On crop sensor bodies, something like a 70–300mm gives excellent effective reach.

• For Sony shooters, the 200–600mm G OSS is a popular pick for whale photography.

Avoid fixed primes unless you're on a private tour. You’ll miss too many shots while adjusting for distance.

Lens Hood: Use It

Ocean light is harsh and reflective. A lens hood helps reduce flare and protects your front element from spray.

Image Stabilization: ON

Turn on IS (Canon), VR (Nikon), or OSS (Sony). Even at high shutter speeds, stabilization helps offset micro-shake from the boat—especially if you’re shooting handheld.

Tripod or Monopod? Skip It

Don’t bother. On most tours, there’s no room or time to use them. Go handheld or use a chest/shoulder brace if you need extra support.

Bonus Tip: Shoot from a Low Stance

If your boat has room, kneel or squat to minimize camera movement. Less body sway = sharper shots.

Metering and Exposure: Handling Harsh Ocean Light

Photo by David Stanley

Ocean lighting is a constant battle—glare, bright sun, and dark whales all in the same frame. Getting exposure right requires a proactive approach.

Metering Mode: Evaluative / Matrix

Use Evaluative (Canon) or Matrix (Nikon/Sony) metering to let the camera assess the whole scene. This helps avoid overexposing the water or underexposing the whale.

• Spot metering can be useful if you’re confident and fast, but it’s risky—especially if your subject is moving fast across a bright background.

Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 EV

The camera often underexposes in bright ocean environments, especially if the whale is dark.

• Dial in +1/3 to +1 exposure compensation to avoid silhouettes and preserve detail on the whale’s body.

• Be ready to adjust back to 0 if lighting softens or clouds roll in.

Tip: Watch Your Highlights

• If your camera has a zebra warning or highlight alert, turn it on.

• Overblown whites on the ocean can’t be recovered in post—better to slightly underexpose and recover shadows than clip the highlights.

Cloudy Day Strategy

If it’s overcast (common in the Azores), light is more even and forgiving. You may be able to drop your ISO, use a slower shutter (1/800s), and reduce or remove exposure compensation. Bonus Tips: Settings for Dolphins, Birds, and Unexpected Action

While whales are the stars, Azores boat tours often come with surprise visitors—dolphins, flying fish, storm petrels, even the occasional Portuguese man o’ war. Each calls for a quick shift in technique.

Dolphins: Faster Subjects, Lower Angles

• Shutter Speed: Go even faster—1/1600s or 1/2000s—to freeze fast, agile movements.

• Focus Mode: Still use AI Servo / AF-C with dynamic area or zone AF to track unpredictable jumps.

• Lens: Stay zoomed out (~200mm) when they swim close to the bow.

Birds in Flight: Test Your Autofocus

Azores waters are filled with seabirds—great practice for tracking.

• Use wide AF area, Animal Eye AF if supported, and burst mode.

• Shutter speed: 1/2000s or faster, especially for wing motion.

Surface Surprises: Be Ready

Some of the best moments are blink-and-you-miss-it events—a breaching swordfish, leaping tuna, or the glint of sunlight on a glassy wave.

• Stay in burst mode, ISO Auto, and never turn your camera off.

• Pre-focus on the water at a middle distance if nothing’s happening—it’ll lock on faster if something pops up.

Internal Settings Recap: My Canon 5D Mark III Setup on the Tour

If you're using a DSLR like the Canon 5D Mark III, here’s the exact setup I ran with during my whale tour in the Azores. This configuration maximized my chances of sharp, well-exposed images—despite the constant movement.

Mode: Tv (Shutter Priority)

• Locked at 1/1000s to 1/2000s depending on light

• Aperture was automatically wide open (typically f/5.6–f/6.3 on my 100–400mm lens)

ISO: Auto ISO, Max 3200

• The 5D Mark III handles ISO 1600 well

• At ISO 3200, I accepted a bit of grain in exchange for exposure reliability in fast-changing light

AF Mode: AI Servo with Center Point

• Center AF point only, for speed and accuracy

• AI Servo kept up with fast movements, and recomposing was fast with some practice

Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +2/3

• Needed for backlit surfacing whales or heavy ocean glare

• Anything lower often left the whales too dark

Drive Mode: High-Speed Continuous

• Used full 6 fps burst mode

• Held down the shutter for every breach to increase chances of nailing a clean frame

Other Custom Settings:

• Back-button focus (AF-ON) enabled

• Highlight alert (blinkies) enabled to avoid clipped whites

• Review time set to 4 seconds for quick field checks

Post-Processing: Editing Whale Photos for Maximum Impact

Photo by Jakob Owens

Even with perfect in-camera settings, your whale photos will benefit from thoughtful editing. The ocean’s blues, the whale’s texture, and the lighting all come alive with a solid workflow.

Step 1: White Balance and Ocean Color

• Ocean water often skews too cyan or green.

• Use a custom white balance or the “Cloudy” preset to warm up skin tones and ocean hues.

• Use the HSL panel to pull back cyans and bump blues to get that rich Azores water tone.

Step 2: Exposure and Contrast

• Whales are dark subjects on a bright background—use the “Whites” and “Highlights” sliders to tame ocean glare.

• Then gently raise “Shadows” and “Blacks” to reveal the whale’s shape without flattening the image.

Step 3: Sharpening and Noise

• Use local sharpening on the whale only, not the ocean.

• If you used ISO 3200 or above, apply noise reduction carefully—keep detail in the splash, not the sky.

Step 4: Local Adjustments

• Use a radial filter to spotlight the whale. Lower exposure on the rest of the frame slightly to draw the eye in.

• If you caught a breach or tail slap, a bit of clarity and dehaze can add drama.

Optional: Artistic Crop

• Don’t be afraid to crop—especially for social or printing.

• A vertical frame of a breaching whale or a panoramic shot with water spray often looks more striking than the original full frame.

Final Thoughts: Practice, Patience, and Respect for Nature

Whale photography isn’t just about gear or settings—it’s about being present, alert, and respectful. You might wait an hour for a single breach—or witness five in five minutes. That unpredictability is the beauty of it.

Patience Pays Off

• Don’t shoot blindly. Anticipate. Watch the blow, the fluke, and the guide’s cues.

• Accept that not every outing guarantees “the shot.” The Azores are wild and free—exactly as they should be.

Practice Your Technique at Home

• Try tracking birds or dogs in motion with your chosen settings.

• Learn how your camera reacts at different shutter speeds and ISO levels. Confidence at sea starts on land.

Respect the Animals

• Follow the operator’s rules—don’t pressure them to get closer.

• Never shout or make noise to “get a reaction.” The best moments come when you’re quiet and still.

FAQ: Whale Watching Photography in the Azores

What camera settings are best for whale photography?

Use Shutter Priority mode (Tv) at 1/1000s or faster, Auto ISO capped at 3200, and Evaluative Metering. Continuous autofocus (AI Servo/AF-C) with burst mode improves your chances of sharp action shots.

What lens do I need to photograph whales?

A 100–400mm lens (or equivalent) is ideal. On smaller boats, you’ll be close enough that even 200mm is often sufficient, but 400mm helps with distant breaches or shy species.

How do I avoid blurry whale photos?

Keep shutter speed above 1/1000s. Use image stabilization if your lens has it, and shoot in burst mode. Track with continuous autofocus and practice on moving subjects ahead of time.

What is the best time of day for whale photography in the Azores?

Morning tours often have calmer seas and softer light. However, mid-day tours can yield sharper shadows on whale bodies—just be cautious of ocean glare.

Should I shoot in RAW or JPEG?

Shoot in RAW to allow for full control during post-processing. It helps recover shadows on whales and manage bright ocean highlights.

Can I photograph whales with a beginner camera?

Yes, if your camera allows fast shutter speeds and has a decent zoom (200mm+). Compact zooms and bridge cameras can still produce great shots with the right light and technique.