Bats.........Again!

Yes but with the fast shutter speed, take the photos during the day. Simple!

An accurate assessment.

PentaxExpert doesn't think bats are difficult to photograph. He probably has many roosting in his belfry.

Ahh yes pentax expert/Pentax pro Master I've just had a look at your portfolio on here. (Golf) Balls I think!

This beginner (I've only been an amateur photographer for 43 years) bows to your expertise.

I would still really like to understand the technique of photographing bats at night. I'm assuming with flash and trying to pan to make up for the low shutter speed.

The other solution to consider is eg 1/2000th but with a decent flash gun if night shots are required.

Who will bite this time??????

Ahh I've read the other posts from our high shutter speed at night expert. I really thought this Forum was better than that.

Is it possible to have a discussion with the member who kindly posted his bat photos? I'll get back to daylight and go see if there are any more Gatekeeper butterflies in our herb garden to photograph

Agreed- He has started his own threads before pretending to not know what he is doing- whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Hi-jacking other threads is just plain annoying though.

Good afternoon, everyone!
just got in from work & realised what I've been missing since about 8.00 a.m.!!!

sorry to have omitted tech. info., but it's the same as B4, didn't want to raise the boredom quotient too high!

so...

K7, 18-55 "kit" lens, @ 18.
F5, ISO 400, 1/50th. sec.
Built-in flash.
Manual focus.

I set the focal length to wide since, although it renders the bat smaller in the frame, it does at least increase the chance of getting an image in the frame. Crop later (in PSE9).

The bats initial presence is indicated by a bat detector. In the remaining light, at 9.45 - 10.30 p.m., it is quite easy(!) to see them flying around against the sky. The latest ploy, rather than just "point-&-shoot" is , as the flash is "up" I've been using the cut-out in the flash housing as a rapid viewfinder, which makes following the bats easier, if you keep both eyes open.
In our garden which is bounded by 2 walls at right angles, they tend to swoop round & round before flying off over the rest of the garden. This circling adds a certain predictability to their flightpaths.

If nothing else it is very good, but challenging, panning practise!

Again, apologies in delaying my joining the discussion but any further info I can provide, please post!

I would really like to see others' results & any fine tuning / use of different lenses, etc. that you could suggest

Thanks for all the encouragement.

Roger.

Thanks Roger,

I like the very original idea of using the flash frame as a rapid viewfinder.

I agree about using wide angle as chasing them with a telephoto would be very difficult indeed!

I think you could herd them into a smaller shooting zone by running some rope through some trees and hanging mosquito nets or sheer curtians to funnel them into your zone and then using black lights to lure the insects into the center of your bat corral.... they should have no trouble navigating through that, and if the black lights attract enough bugs, the bats will follow..

PentaxExpert aside this is what is great about this forum. A practical solution to taking better photos from a fellow member.

.... and I'd also suggest a stronger flash; if you're at home, borrow a set of D-Lites from theflashcentre or so and away you go

Bret

you could try taking photos of Daubentons bats- as far as I know they fly low over water catching insects during the daytime.

Dave

Have you considered drugging the bats? so they fly slower or not at all, just temporary so no harm to the bats?
I have seen this technique used on other creatures so they can be photographed succesfuly