Photographing bats at dusk

[rachel]

Hi all

Looking for a bit of advice.

We recently discovered that there are bats living in an outside wall. SItting out at dusk we can see them leaving and flying off, then a little later they come back and flutter around the garden for a while before going back to roost. Of course, I'd like to get some pictures, but so far it's proving impossible because they're so fast and because of the low light conditions.

I don't want to use a flash because that would disturb them.

Shooting in continuous burst last night I managed to get some in frame but they're blurry streaks so I need to try again with a much faster shutter which of course will limit the light.

I tried a video in the hope of being able to extract some frames and while the bats are visible and it's not too dark to see, the video is blurred. Presumably this is because the autofocus doesn't work well in low light?

Is it worth trying with fast shutter & high ISO and hoping that something will be visible even if only with the aid of software? Or is it really not possible without fancier equipment, motion sensors etc?

Any ideas welcome
Thanks!

[Steaphany]

Have you considered setting up a continuous light in your garden ? Make sure it doesn't get too high of a temperature for the Bats.

Being continuous, the Bats will not be disturbed as it you were using a strobe, they will easily get use to it, and soon find that it is a "feeder" for them attracting yummy bugs for them to eat. Plus you will have perfect lighting for the Bats when they swoop in for a bug that happens to be close to the light.

The only flaw is you may find that you'll need to have the light on every evening to feed your Bats.

[Shadowman]

You can try this type of camera. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Moult...3869537&rid=20

[Steaphany]

You can try this type of camera. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Moult...3869537&rid=20

I have something similar that I use for a security camera, and you need a lot of luck to capture a small fast moving critter. I often get frames triggered with nothing obvious to have set it off.

[xpatUSA]

From a technical point of view, having never tried that kind of shooting personally:

Shutter speed is the prime factor to freeze their motion. I do like to state the obvious. Irritating, isn't it?

You could get more speed by exposing for the sky and accepting that the bats will be in silhouette. Trying to expose for the bat details, fur, etc. could be a waste of time.

You can "slow" the bats down by using the highest possible camera resolution and standing further back, cropping later in post.

Have you found that flash disturbs them?

Still, quite a powerful flash would be needed, I'm guessing the one on the camera won't cut it. Others can tell you better than I.

On the ISO question, noise can be an issue and, at very high ISOs, the camera or the conversion will have large amounts of noise reduction, also know as blur, such that the bat outline edges may not be quite perfect.

Good luck!

[Steaphany]

Thinking this may be a well explored photographic subject, a ran a search and found:

How to photograph bats in your backyard

[rachel]

Thanks all for your suggestions. The garden light is something I hadn't considered; I' wondered about low--light or IR cameras but assumed they'd be too expensive. Both of these I'm going to look into now.

You could get more speed by exposing for the sky and accepting that the bats will be in silhouette.

This is indeed the plan for tonight, I'll have to sit underneath the window and point almost directly upwards as they don't tend to fly high enough on leaving to be viewed against the sky.

Will let you know how it goes - thanks again

[rachel]

Thinking this may be a well explored photographic subject, a ran a search and found:

Thank you - yes, I've been searching online too and saw this earlier but dismissed it because I got the impression that these bats in the picture were feeding during the day. Now I realise that's not the case and will have a think. My mother (whose house they are roosting in) doesn't like feeding birds as they attract cats but if we only put it up at night it might be worth a go.

I'm also going to re-read all the stuff I've read this last week about attracting bats to a bat box.

[IzzieK]

Interesting link, Steaphany...thanks.

[benm]

Thank you - yes, I've been searching online too and saw this earlier but dismissed it because I got the impression that these bats in the picture were feeding during the day. Now I realise that's not the case and will have a think. My mother (whose house they are roosting in) doesn't like feeding birds as they attract cats but if we only put it up at night it might be worth a go.

I'm also going to re-read all the stuff I've read this last week about attracting bats to a bat box.

If you ever find yourself in Sydney you can get photos of bats during the day. Each bat is about the size of a 5 pound bag of potatoes. This photo was taken in 2008.

[rachel]

If you ever find yourself in Sydney you can get photos of bats during the day. Each bat is about the size of a 5 pound bag of potatoes. This photo was taken in 2008.

Ha! Ours are a bit smaller than that thankfully.

For those who know anything about bats (I didn't until less than a week ago) we think they're pipistrelles.

I also read that all UK bats are 'micro bats' and eat only insects, so the humming bird thing wouldn't work for me.

[rachel]

All I have to show for tonight is one grainy image of a very definite bat shape and a few minutes of video showing some black blurry things darting out from under the window. However that's better than I'd managed so far and I'll keep trying.

[rpcrowe]

I shot the hoards of bats exiting Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico at dusk with a film camera. However, I was not interested in individual images of bats but rather the stream of exiting bats which are so thick they look like smoke pouring out of the face of the cave. So a slower shutter speed was O.K.

I returned with my first digital cameras a few years ago. While there are no restrictions on photography INSIDE the caves, the Park Service doesn't allow photography of the bats exiting the cave mouth. This is because too many people use their cameras on full-auto and the built-in flash is activated. That tends to disorient the bats. I later found that there is a ridge overlooking the cave mouth that is an excellent vantage point to photograph the bat stream emerging from the mouth. Unfortunately, I found this vantage point when I did not have another evening allocated at the Caverns.

[rachel]

Ah, that would be nice to see. We think we have something above 30 and they leave one after another, we don't get that smoke effect. I think I just have to accept that this is one of those things that is there to enjoy, not to photograph.

I did look at the trail type cameras but I suspect the motion trigger would be too slow. It's possible that if I got it to trigger video rather than photo it would catch a few so it's still under consideration.