Thursday 7 March 2013

SkyWatch Friday - A miss and a hit

As some of you will know, I tried to photograph some bats this week.  There were two reasons for this - firstly I would be able to continue my cricket themed posts "Batting Through the Night" or some such like, and secondly I thought it would be different to post a picture concentrating on the nights sky, but not one that was about stars or the Moon.

So, I set up a tripod in the day light, prefocused the camera on the top corner of the fig tree in the next door garden.  Once that was organised I removed the camera, but they the tripod in place.  Once it was dark and the bats were batting about I put the camera back.  At tho point I could see nothing at all through the viewfinder!  Every time a bat came near the place where I thought the camera was pointing I took a flash shot.

I scared the living daylights out of one car driver who clearly thought the flash was a speed trap!

Now, I did get a picture of a bat - but generally I think this image is a "miss".  Although it sort of shows that the process may work eventually!



Now, just in case you think "I came here for this?" which would be justified I have to say, I will include a much better shot from the archives!

This is what a sky shot should look like!  This is an evening sky on Kangaroo Island - and I think its a hit!


You can find more skies - and generally fewer underexposed, slightly out of focus noctural mammals at Sky Watch Friday!

Enjoy the skies!

27 comments:

  1. keep on batting Stewart. I especially liked your K.I. skywatch; well done.

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  2. A great sky but the bat is a real wonder....well worth pursuing this. Flashing in the dark would get you arrested here.

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  3. Good try with the bat! Love that last shot.

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  4. Yes, keep trying for the BAT shot... I think they are cool! Lovely sky too :)

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  5. Ah, Carole said what I was gonna say! I do think your sky shot is fabulous. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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  6. well, at least you 'caught' one bat. :)

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  7. Good job on capturing the image of the bat flying. The bats we have are much smaller in comparison.

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  8. You went to great effort to get that shot, I think it's a win. Funny about the speed trap! That was worth the effort. ;)That is a gorgeous sky at the end.

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  9. Awesome skies and a terrific capture for the day and by all means, keep on "batting"! And have a great weekend, too!

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  10. I think the English cricket team would have been better filming bats than playing with them this week! I do like your picture though.

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  11. A great sky-post!
    Lovely to see your photos!

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  12. Your sky is beautiful!

    Our first linky party is on at:

    http://www.pret-a-vivre.com/2013/03/ready-to-waltz-party-time.html

    We hope you can join us, have a great weekend!

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  13. Stewart, I had to laugh at your "batting thru the night". My hubby has had one of those flashers, scared him straight. He will not speed now, LOL! Great capture BTW, they are quick movers. The second shot looks lovely! Happy Skywatching!

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  14. love that kangaroo sky:-)

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  15. The bat picture may not be worth money, but the odds of capturing a clear image of one are so small that I sure wouldn't call it a miss. The bat is in flight and you can tell what it is, so that picture is definitely worthy of posting.

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  16. Great pictures...and great words!

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  17. i've always wanted to take photos of bats but i never had the opportunity. i visited a bat cave a few years ago, and i was told that they fly out of the cave at twilight. problem is, the cave was a bit isolated and my friends didn't want to stay there to wait for the bats to wake up.:p

    don't give up!

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  18. You are A+ photographer of bats. I like the sunset photo too.
    JM Illinois
    U.S.A.

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  19. I like your bat shot. Hopefully you will get more. The sky is beautiful - and Kangarro Island one of my favourite places to relax.

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  20. Wow Stewart I disagree - I think this is a hit!! That's probably an extremely difficult shot to capture.

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  21. I think your "miss" shot is pretty cool. Photographing bats in the dark sounds like it would be quite a challenge, but certainly a fun one. I look forward to seeing more of them! Beautiful sky shot, too!

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  22. °º✿✿
    Bonitas imagens!
    °º✿ Bom fim de semana!
    º° ✿✿ ♫° ·. Beijinhos do Brasil

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  23. You're right, it's a hit!
    But I love the bat, too!

    Cheers - Wally

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  24. Hi Stewart!I realy like the bat shot!!Great work!!Your sky is beautiful!Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
    Dimi..

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  25. Love that sky! Nature at its very best, well captured. Have a lovely weekend Stewart :)

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  26. That is just batty!

    I've never tried to get a photo of the ones around my house, because I'm usually too busy trying to keep them out of my hair.

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  27. Definitely a hit!!
    We have a colony (is that what you call it) of Fruit Bats that live in the HUGE mango tree in our unit complex... they are incredibly noisy!!

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