Grey-headed Flying Fox clip.
 

Hi all,

Here is a short clip of Grey-Headed Flying Foxes flying in backlight. I have been working on a documentary about these awesome mammals for the last 18 months and I am close to complete the photography.

Any comment/suggestion would be appreciated.

Choose the thumbnail with the title: "GHFF backlit flight"

Video Gallery

Thanks for watching,

Ofer Levy Photography

Backlighting did reveal the bats in flight.

I was hoping to be brought closer to one landing or taking off. A close-up of a bat perched and preening would be welcome too, but a zoom-in on wingspan would be my favourite. The smile of a bat raises my expectation that blood is going to gently ooze out between his teeth, so you can leave out that shot! The main thing is keep trying; I'm depending on you Ofer to inform me on flying foxes; I can't see myself addressing this chapter of my ignorance directly.

Ah........
 

that'd be "Pteropus poliocephalus" then.

(Just occured to me that the name has a vaguely medical "you could die from this" ring to it. Strange, as they're entirely harmless)

Usually called "Fruit Bats".

Amazing creatures.

I overnighted in Brisbane a couple of years ago and had to get up at some ungodly time for an early flight out. Was having a pre - packing smoke outside the hotel, overlooking a large sunken square in the middle of town, when this airborne shape appeared in the street lighting and proceeded to practically part my hair (if I had any to part).

Huge, nearly a metre (3 feet plus) wingspan.

Georgous creatures.

Wish I'd had my camera.

Not bad Ofer, but think you're gonna need to get a bit more "up front and personal" to wow the punters.

Anyone wanting more information can try these:

www.abs.ausbats.org.au

www.sydneybats.org.au

Flying Foxes of Bellingen Island

www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

I'll be in Coffs Harbour (Australia) in late August/ early September and shall be tapping in to the resident batologists to get a close squizz at more of these beautifull animals.


CS

Thanks Brendan and Chris for your comments but I was hoping for some more professional input thanks.

Brendan's note about obtaining tighter shots is valid. Either use a longer telephoto lens or get in closer (maybe using a hide).

The short clip showing a group of bats at distance is OK if it is only going to be a few seconds section of the entire movie. To maintain interest for the viewer the bats will need to be filmed in a variety of different viewpoints from close-up and distance, hanging, flying, grooming, feeding young beneath the wing, daylight activity, night activity, social behaviour, habits etc.

Close ups of single bats and dramatic footage of a single subject in flight or feeding etc., needs to be the part of the opening sequence.

Are you also recording quality sounds of the bat's wingbeats and calls etc?

Thanks for your comment Tony. In the nearly two years that I have been filming these bats I got more than 100 hours of footage showing every aspect of their lives. I got them feeding, mating, giving birth, fighting, flying, females interacting with their babies and a lot more. All in LS, MS, CU and ECU. I am hoping to make a 52 minutes documentary which I hope to start putting together very soon.
The clip you see on my website is just a 30 second clip of the GHFF in flight. This is not a full documentary so I am not sure I understand the input I got so far. Anyway - I probably misunderstood the purpose of this forum - my fault.
Regards,
Ofer Levy Photography

Well, well, well.............
 

Funnily enough, you just got some, not that you want to hear, obviously.

In which case all I will say is this:

If you're not prepared to listen, at least don't slag off posters with infinately more experience than you.

One day your very career could hinge on those posters you've just called "un - professional".

Your clip, if included in an otherwise stunning production, would have been a decent "fill", but of itself is of minor interest.

If that is the best you've got, take up knitting.

Professional enough?


CS

Hi Chris, I had another look at your comment and tried to see where in this long comment you really referred to the clip itself.
In your second comment I see nothing but a personal attack which is totally not in place. Had a look at your resume and I really can't see how my career will ever be dependant on you - unless you mean my career in knitting.

Trying to play peacemaker, Chris's post seemed pretty harmless to me, and Ofer it was a bit much to imply that he was un-professional, he was just putting forward "comments/suggestions" as you asked for.

Are you still using the Flash XDR, how are you finding it? Have you tried S&Q motion to the XDR, or will that not go down the HD SDI feed?

Best wishes to all!

Steve

Hi Steve,
I believe this is not really relevant to this thread. I am sending you a PM regarding the Flash XDR.
Cheers,
Ofer

Thanks mate.
Steve

Hi Ofer,

Your usual offering is using long telephoto shots which I think are fantastic. I am interested in capturing wildlife using long lenses and (in my case) the nanoflash unit. This is the first wide shot I have seen of yours and think it is great -- I especially like the slow motion feel to it.

I began with SD, moved recently to HDV (Canon XL H1s) with Nikon lenses to really reach out. My first experiments were with close-ups. But I was lucky enough to get a few shots of wood ducks this spring. Now that there is a solution to using the Nanoflash output files on a PC with PPro CS4, I will order a unit. That should give me a suitable quality level for most applications. With luck I should be able to do something relatively complete on a number of birds and amphibians and maybe even some local mammals.

Now that you have captured so many aspects of the bat's life history, what do you think will be your preferred method of distribution?

As I move closer to being able to do similar documentaries, I often wonder about the storylines that would appeal most. Certainly unfamiliar life history documentaries are always fascinating, but I wonder if there is a more captivating/appealing approach. If you have any thoughts on this, I would be most interested.

Keep up the good work, I think your photographic and videographic skills with natural history are amazing and have been an inspiration to me to continue to pursue this idea of combining normal and very long lenses, off-the-sensor HD SDI material onto the CD nanoflash or XDR as a means to capture excellent quality natural history subjects.

Best regards,
Alan

Hi Alan,
Thank you for the kind words and support. I am sure we are all here to learn from each other rather than telling about our journeys and waste each others time.
I have learnt a lot from both pros and armatures here and on other similar forums and I feel that sharing our work and experience is a fantastic way to learn and improve.
As to the clip - it was shot in slow motion - the EX3 was set to 720 25p in slow motion mode and dialed to 60 fps.
I am so looking forward to the next firmware upgrade of the Flash XDR (or the NanoFlash for that matter) as they are going to include over and undercrunck even if your camera can't do it natively!
The Flash XDR/NanoFlash is a miracle device for independent filmmakers/cameramen. The signal captured to the CF cards in this device is so much better than what the EX3 or the Canon XK H1 can capture - there is really no room for comparison.
As to completing the project – I am negotiating with a few production companies which are interested in my stuff.
I agree that getting a very good story is a huge challenge – I work with a few talented people who are helping me to get there. It is not easy but definitely doable IMO.
We are very lucky to have all this wonderful HD technology in relatively affordable price and by helping each other we can save a lot of time, money and heart ache….(-:
Cheers mate,
Ofer

Don't forget Ofer that you can get slomo from the EX3 onto the XDR. If you shoot in 720/60P mode in 160 mb/s I frame youcan then conform it to 25P and hey presto perfect slomo (Cinema Tools will do it for example).
This is not a software fudge slomo, it's proper 60fps, each frame individual and complete just as it would be froma Varicam, and it only takes seconds to do as there is no re-coding of the pixels of each frame, they are just being clumped into bunches of 25 frames per second.
Steve

WOW Steve, I am more happy and excited than embarrassed for not figuring it out myself...(-:
I actually don't have enough knowledge in post processing so this is a new idea for me. Fantastic news! Will try it tomorrow morning as I was planning to get some more slow motion of them flying and I am not crazy about the relatively poor quality of the native 720 25p of the EX3.
This is the kind of input that really makes a difference - thank you!
Will post a thread as to my experience with this new information once I figure out how to manipulate it in FCP….(-:
Cheers mate,
Ofer

I'm not an editor and no expert but I do have Final Cut on my laptop and know how to do it on that.
Load the folder with the Quicktimes onto the computer.
Open Cinema Tools. Go to File, Batch Conform. It'll ask you to select one file from the folder you want to conform. Select one file and OK. It'll then ask what frame rate you want to conform to (in my case 25). Hit OK and it'll do it more or less instantly. As far as I know all it is doing is taking the total number of frames in the clip (so if was a 10 second clip at 720/50 it'd contain 500 frames) and grouping them into bunches of 25 frames, so that from this clip you'd end up with 20 groups of 25 frames, ie 20 seconds of screen time so half speed slomo.
I think this is the same idea as shooting a P2 Varicam in Native mode, so you shoot say 50 fps and it lays it down as 25fps for instant slomo on playback.
Steve

Thank you so much for this awesome information - will try it tomorrow!
Cheers mate,
Ofer

For consideration
 

Ofer,

Thanks for opening up your project for comment -- that certainly is admirable and helps build a strong community.

For your consideration, as a naturalist and filmmaker, one thing that came to mind as I watched this footage was the impact the slo-mo will have on your audience. I think it is aesthetically beautiful (the wings look excellent) and, further, could be used adeptly to show the bats' motion in ways our naked eyes can not discern.

I would simply suggest that, as you build your documentary, consider the importance of also showing the bats motion in real-time. My personal opinion (please, take or leave), is that we as wildlife filmmakers have a responsibility to offer compelling and beautiful images and perspectives on the natural world while also presenting the reality of it to our audiences. It can be tempting to over-use the myriad of techniques available to us in production and in post to build scenes and sequences that are engaging, even enrapturing which, over time and exposure, can also lead our audiences away from seeing the native beauty in life. In other words, it is important that people do not forget how to enjoy nature and learn from it as they will see it in their own experiences, live. And they can't see bats fly in slo-mo live.

This is a very subtle point, but one that I try and keep in mind as I edit projects. I try and do both: honor what is real, as well as be a filmmaker in the "auteur" sense of having a voice, a director's perspective, and be free to make images that I find compelling (with and without technical manipulations). I realize this opens a can of worms in that even shooting an image is creating a false idea of reality. But taken with a grain of being reasonable, I simply find that remembering that nature is awesome in its own right and doesn't require us to manipulate the images of it all the time to be beautiful is a wonderful thing.

The great and awesome result of trying to make an image or sequence that, without filters, frame rate changes, etc. is still incredible to watch, is that it's really HARD to do. And when you do it, it is even more rewarding and you'll find has pushed you further than ever before in becoming an amazing filmmaker--not to say you aren't ;).

Anyway, food for thought. I hope at the least you find this interesting.

Thanks again for sharing and I encourage you to keep us posted on your project's development.

- Ramsey

Hi Jonathan,
Thank you so much for this awesome comment!
I can't agree more!
I also feel we have the responsibility to show nature as it is and we should use all kind of effects very moderately and only when absolutely necessary and not because we know how to do it....(-:
One of the reasons why I shot this in slow motion is that it simply looks bad without it. The wings become a bit too blurry and it doesn't look real. This is why I am going to experiment as Steve suggested shooting a similar scene in a different technique - maybe I-frame only in 220Mb/s (which I can do with the Flash XDR) or Long GOP in 160Mb/s.
I am waiting to get faster CF cards before I can do that - will show the results once I get it hopefully soon.
Thanks again Jonathan, I appreciate your great input.
Cheers,
Ofer

Looking forward to it.
 

Well I anxiously look forward to seeing your results. I'm about to start playing with various slo-mo options as well (on my EX3) and was intrigued by Steve's suggestion, too. I don't have a Flash XDR -- but that may very well be the way to do it.

As for getting real-time shots of the bats... have you tried actually accentuating the blur of the wings with a slow shutter? I know it's counter-intuitive, but it might provide some worthwhile results. One thing that struck me from the footage you posted was the number of bats flying simultaneously and so closely together. Perhaps shooting from below the trees and looking in the same direction in which they are flying out, a shot in real-time that blurs the wings and emphasizes the shear numbers and near chaos of this flight would be appealing. Just a thought. There's a cave in Colorado I've been meaning to hike to for a similar shot one evening and perhaps I'll try it. But I can definitely envision an establishing shot in real-time that feels overwhelming and powerful in numbers of bats and the blur of their wings -- almost making them overlap (in the visual sense), cutting to more intimate shots in slo-mo.

I'll be excited to see whatever you do decide to do -- I love bats.

My best,
Jonathan

With flying birds (and bats) the strange thing is that normal speed actually looks wrong. I think it's to do with the fact that rather than seeing it in a wide sky as you do when you see it in person, on screen it's within a very confined space and its movement about the frame and the flapping of the wings looks crazily fast. At half speed it actually looks more like you think it does in reality. Normal speed looks fine on wides though.

Ofer, don't shoot long GOP for slomo, you'll have to go through a lengthy and quality-sapping transcode before you can conform to 25P. I'd go for 160 or 220 mb I frame.

Steve

Hi Jonathan, I like your creative approach!
There are a few issues with this awesome idea though:
1. It is impossible to predict when the bats are going to fly. I got these shots as there were a few kids palying too close to the trees which caused them to fly and move to another part of the colony. It doesn't happen very often.
2. As much as I like the creative side of this idea and I can see how beautiful and "artistic" it will look - I find the blurred slow shutter effect a bit too artificial for my style of filmmaking. However, I will give it some more thought as I can see how beautiful, effective and powerful it can be.

Thanks again for your lovely creative input - much appreciated! I am always happy to hear your great ideas.

Cheers mate,

Ofer

Hi Ofer,

We used to have a fascinating Grey-headed flying fox colony at the Botanical Gardens here in Melbourne until a campaign was mounted against them. The campaign included shooting even though the animal is classed as a threatened species. The colony has now been relocated several kilometers away but the flying foxes are still unpopular with many people. The colony suffered heavy losses in late January and early February this year when about 4000 succumbed in temperatures up to 48 degrees despite the efforts of volunteers trying to keep them cool.

The animal is well studied and it should not be difficult to come up with a story line, there is at least one group specialising in bats in Melbourne. Some time ago there was some very interesting studies done on their brains at Brisbane University.

Keep up the good work.

Hi Alastair,
Thanks for your comment and information. I am aware of the last heath stress catastrophe and the relocation from the RGB in Melbourne. There is a similar campaign going on in the Sydney RBG to relocate the GHFF. One leading scientist I was talking to said the population is halved every seven years - I am afraid the future doesn't look too good for them. This is why I am so keen to complete this project as anyone who sees my footage will realize how wonderful they really are.
Cheers,
Ofer

Ofer, you probably know this already, but the Flash XDR and Nanoflash are to have a loop record mode (think it may even be already available) so you get 5 seconds of footage before you press the record button - so you can just wait for your bats to take off then press the button and you've got it! Been using this loop record on big cameras since late Digibeta days and it's hard to imagine shooting wildlife without it now!
Steve

flight anomoly
 

Fascinating theory about the effect of the focal length on how "real" the flapping looks. I haven't shot much with birds in a while -- and when I did it was large raptors (Golden Eagles, etc.) which may have a very different visual effect due to their enormous wing span. In any case, makes me curious if there isn't also something going on with persistence of vision along with the speed of the flapping, length of the wing, and in combination with focal length and shutter/frame rate to leave a complicated matrix of possibilities. Now we just need some grant funding to do nothing but film various bird and bat species in every combination of camera setting in order to publish the chart ;) That'll be the day! If ever you find that generous financier, I'm sure Ofer and I will be on a plane in no time to get going on the project. Ha ha!

Jonathan