You know it's dusk when...

[cybereye (Mario)]

...the bats arrive!!

Our backyard seems to be a flight path for some of the local bat population, so I waited last night for the Sun to go down. They're not easy to photograph in such low light flying as fast as they do but if you keep snapping away... well, I did manage this image. I also made it a bit fancy for a bit of fun!

Cheers,
Mario

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by cybereye

...the bats arrive!!

Our backyard seems to be a flight path for some of the local bat population, so I waited last night for the Sun to go down. They're not easy to photograph in such low light flying as fast as they do but if you keep snapping away... well, I did manage this image. I also made it a bit fancy for a bit of fun!

Cheers,
Mario

Used to get a lot of these in Western Sydney. I remember flocks of them flying west at dusk to the creek then back in the early morning . Not any more though. Too many houses now.

[ourkind (Carlos)]

Nice shot Mario, I like the way you've processed it!

[cybereye (Mario)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Used to get a lot of these in Western Sydney. I remember flocks of them flying west at dusk to the creek then back in the early morning . Not any more though. Too many houses now.

I don't remember them as a kid growing up in Rockdale, but I have seen them since when visiting family down there. Here in Brisbane, there's an island in the Brisbane River where they roost and at night the sky can be filled with these black shapes!!

Originally Posted by ourkind

Nice shot Mario, I like the way you've processed it!

Thanks Carlos! Although the bat was quite sharp, the low light/high ISO noise of the sky was quite bad. I tried several methods of dealing with the noise but settled on the radial blur of just the sky. I felt it added quite a dramatic effect - almost a "fear" element of seeing a bat!!

Cheers,
Mario

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

If they just flew over - which they do every evening - they'd be fine. Some stop and feed on the seeds on one of our palm trees and poop all over the concrete pool surrounds. Hard to get off even using the Kärcher.

[Ric]

Dracula's on the move.

Nice capture though as they move around pretty quickly.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Nice catch Mario.
My obsession is trying to catch them flying across the face of a near full Moon.

[cybereye (Mario)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Nice catch Mario.
My obsession is trying to catch them flying across the face of a near full Moon.

Now that would be an awesome picutre! I'd have to get up early in the morning to get the Moon in the right spot though....