Photograph of jumping shark behind surfers

Photog Kem McNair snapped this amazing shot of a spinner shark jumping out of the water behind surfers at New Smyrna Beach, Florida. No, it isn't Photoshopped. CNN.com has a video interview with McNair. Shark and surfers (CNN.com)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Takuan

heh! remember a friend telling me about wind-surfing in Japan. He was at the mouth of a bay facing open ocean (mid-Izu chain). Just sailing along lazily when the waist high dorsal fin passes next to him. Then the bad part. What almost felt like a minute later,the tail fin goes by. He was careful not to fall off.
John A Arkansawyer

In Soviet Russia, shark jumps Boing Boing.
seyo

my friend has photoshop, i’ve used it before, so i can totally tell that this is shopped.
djordan

OK, maybe it isn’t Photoshopped. But how do you know it isn’t GIMP’d? Open source software have come a long way and can perform many of the same feats as their commercial counterparts.
kevin

Apparently sharks are taking over at boingboing. [check out the ad]
xxxxxx

djordan, next time more subtleness.
David Pescovitz

Kevin @9, Good eye!!!
eustace

There’s no way this is photoshopped – no ‘shopper could resist adding the Fonz jumping a surfboard OVER the jumping shark!
insect_hooves

Oh man, “Jumped the shark” has totally jumped the shark. It’s about to Nuke the Fridge.
ZippySpincycle

We need a bigger surfboard.
V

Nah, we are witnessing here what sharks refer to as ‘jumping the surfer’ (e.g. “time to put Jabberjaw out to pasture, he really jumped the surfer this time…”)
Wareq

I’m a shark! I’m a SHAAAAARK! **** my ########! I’M A SHAAAAAAARK!!
hemidemisemiquaver

I can tell by some of the pixels and having seen quite a few shops in my time.
loraksus

Telephoto Compression – look at the pics that show the difference at 28, 50 and 200mm.

http://cp.c-ij.com/english/photoshooting/techniques/howtophotograph/howtophotograph08.html

Also, another good example is the jet pics in this thread
http://www.phototakers.com/forum/archive/can-someone-show-me-an-example-of-telephoto-compression-54038.htm

Or either of these 2
http://www.ratemyeverything.net/post.aspx?post=135

It looks like Kem was using a Canon 400mm f/5.6L, possibly with a tele-extender, so the shark wasn’t exactly on top of them. Still, nice set of pics.

Oh, and gimp sucks
/ducks ;)
jimmitude

Re: #30. LOL. It makes you realize we are not the masters of the waters.

I used to waterski in an unnaturally placid part of the Moon River (Savannah GA) which is in the tidal area (i.e., brackish salt water.) Turns out it was calm because it was a very deep drop. One year a fellow won a shark fishing tournament by pulling a huge (10 plus foot) shark out of that drop. Can’t remember now if it was a bull or a nurse shark, but both are known to nibble on people. Big sharks often attack going up; they hang around and wait for dinner to swim by above them. We found a different place to ski rather quickly.
FourFiveFire

I strive to one day be the first person to make an “in soviet Russia” comment. MY DAY WILL COME.
GraemeM

The shark only wanted to play, let him (her) have a ride.

Or,

Where’s the Paparazzi when you want them.

Or,

Honey dinners arrived, has it been half an hour yet?

(Groan)
gonzilla

It would be more epic if it was an Iranian “image manipulated” pic of launched jumping sharks.

Also just wondering, what size is that shark compared to the humans.

The only reason that shark got near was the offer of a candy-gram.
kewlboy56

This is not photo shopped! I live in the area and i’ve had this happen to me before also! About three weeks ago i was down by the boardwalk sitting on my board and i was looking out to see if any good sets of waves were coming. While im looking out about 20 feet away from me a 7 foot bull shark jumps all the way out of the water head to tail. I could feel the water fromt he splash hitting me. This scared me enough to make me head in for a early lunch! Also the the photographer that took this is a well known one in the surfing community and does work for other companies his name slips my mind at the moment though.
birblog

terrible
Keeper of the Lantern

Can someone photoshop a pair of chopsticks and a blob of wasabi onto the shark’s fins?
travelina

It looks to me like that shark just leaped naked out of an American Airlines flight.
Biscuit4

Very photo shopped. That’s a skim boarder a surfer waiting for a wave and a “Spinner shark” ? no offense but is that a jewish holiday term for any shark in Florida?
Biscuit4

Anywho… I thought the midevil silk worm farm post was interesting. But that’s just me.
mdhatter

Ayyyyyyyyyyy!
slywy

How does anyone these days prove something isn’t “Photoshopped”? ‘jes wondering.
ZippySpincycle

Does this mean that CNN has jumped the…oh, never mind…
Evil Paul

shopped, pixels
samuraizenu

It’s not photoshopped. this was on our local news. The photos were taken in New Smyrna beach, which has the highest sharkbite count in the nation. He took a burst of shots which shows the whole action of the shark through the full range of the jump in relation to the surfers. Sorry to disappoint you conspiracy theorists.
djn

@22:
A “Spinner shark” is a specific shark species, see the linked wikipedia article. Looking at the picture series, they appear to be good enough for identifying it. (Not that I’m a shark expert, but there’s some good views of the markings and coloration.)
jimmitude

Not a Photoshop expert, but I know sharks, and this is at least reasonable. Sharks are thick as thieves in Congress around FL beaches in summer, and for the same reason, that’s where the goodies are. Fortunately at least with the sharks, 1) they won’t bite (unless you look like a sardine) and 2) the water is usually cloudy enough that you don’t see them anyway, so people don’t worry about what they are up to.

I worry more about barracudas than sharks. They attack pretty much anything shiny (had a buddy get his hand chewed when a Cuda spotted his wedding ring.)

And #22 Biscuit, spinner shark approximately equals black tip shark. Both jump, and I can’t tell from this picture which one it is (black tips are fatter and their top color goes farther down the side.) I like the silk worm farm post too. That sort of old high tech always fascinates me.
jimmitude

Dang, my coffee must have kicked in. I just looked at the picture again, and can see the grey top color line. They’re right, it’s a spinner.
bwcbwc

Definitely a lot of telephoto fore-shortening. I wonder if that would make it harder to pick up on photoshopping if there was any.
Mister Pig

It’s real. I live near there and was there today. The only thing unusual is he caught it on camera. this is near Ponce Inlet – tons of sharks, tons of fish, tons of crabs, tons of shark bites. My bro-in-law flew over this area with me and he won’t get in the water because of the hundreds of sharks we saw swimming around the surfers and tourists. Volusia county is the shark bite capital of the world.
Versh

Imageworks presents: Surf’s Oh $&%*
or
Dreamworks presents: Shark Fail

(man, I need new writers)
Xeni Jardin

Man, Boing Boing has totally jumped the shark.
dagfooyo

Well, so much for getting in first on a “jumped the shark” joke. I like MDHatter’s comment best.
Xeni Jardin

FIRST!!
Rob Beschizza

Another terrifying image from the scene!

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o331/beschizza/morefootage.jpg

(Safe for work)