An image purportedly showing a large whale swimming near a big-wave surfer started circulating online in December 2015:
Although several real images have captured large marine animals beneath the waves near surfers, scuba divers, and kayakers, the above-displayed image is not one of them.
This picture is a piece of digital art created by Julian Herbrig. The original image of a surfer was taken by photographer Tim McKenna in Teahupoo, Tahiti, in 2006 and captured Manoa Drollet, a Billabong team rider who said that the pictured wave was one of the biggest he rode in 2006:
“I compare it to driving fast in a car through a corner and making it around,” joked the quietly spoken Tahitian. “When you have got your Sh@t together and you are going good, then you feel great.”
“I haven’t seen all the shots and it’s hard to tell because when you are on it, you just want to make the wave,” hey said. “I want to see the pictures, and then I’ll judge from there, but I’d be stoked if it is the biggest one.”
An aerial photograph of a minke whale taken in 2005 by an Icelandic tour company was merged with the picture of Drollet to create the composite image:
A comparison of the two images shows that the original surfing photograph was flipped before the whale was added in the background:
This wasn't the first time that McKenna's photography has been used as the basis for a doctored image. In 2013, Deviant Art artist Chris Bennier posted the following picture:
Fortunately, that image, too, was a composite.