Bat Exodus

Image Critiques Wildlife Critiques
1

bat1025borneo105.jpg
bat1025borneo105.jpg1024Ă—613 210 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

One of the highlights of my recent Borneo tour was my first visit to the Gonmatong Caves. During my last trip this site was closed, so I was intrigued by the prospect of visiting this time. It blew my expectations away. First, we walked into one of the major caverns, traversing a boardwalk that kept us from wading through the mountain of bat and bird guano on the cave floor. Inside, we could see bats fluttering around up top, of course, while the ground was coated with said droppings… plus thousands of cockroaches, millipedes, crabs, and more.

Then we climbed 700 steps to a lookout, from which we watched the bats leave the cave late in the day. The cave holds an estimated 2-3 million bats, so the show lasted for more than an hour. As a bonus, several raptors know the schedule, and flew in to grab a snack, picking off bats in mid-air.

Technical Details

Canon R3
Canon 100-500mm
ISO 1600
1/5000th
f/7.1

Critique Template

Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.

Vision and Purpose:
Conceptual:
Emotional Impact and Mood:
Composition:
Balance and Visual Weight:
Depth and Dimension:
Color:
Lighting:
Processing:
Technical:

2

Max, wonderful silhouetting of these deep cave dwellers. The dim lighting here still provided enough on the bats to make out their structures overall… :+1: :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

btw: years ago as I sat in my vehicle waiting for golden hour I had a group of these guys flying around my truck. As they could not pickup or detect the thin radio antenna they kept hitting it making a “twanging” noise off and on. Thankfully it did not seem to hurt any of them and it gave me a bit of a chuckle… :star_struck:

1 Like
3

I love how the bright background emphasizes the shapes of the flying bats. Wonderful image.

1 Like
4

Max,

The second bat from the left and the bat in the middle of the frame are both so emblematic of what a bat looks like. That is such a cool photo.

1 Like
5

That’s a very original view of the bat exodus. The BG also adds the context of the surrounding forest without being distracting. Did you consider switching the horizontal action to Left-to-Right? This kind of feels more comfortable to me…but it would be less original.

6

Very cool image indeed! And, what an experience.

I’ve crept around in small, damp caves and know that adrenaline rush when the bats start to move around in readiness for the nightly forage.

The silhouettes against the forest background is wonderful. The dark FG is a great base.

I considered @Mike_Friel 's comment about a horizontal flip. For me, the posted image suits better than the flipped.

If I had any nits at all it would be those three brighter tree trunks on the LHS.

7

I did not. My preference is to document things in their natural state. If someone wants to buy a print of this image and asks me to flip it, I’ll be happy to do so, of course. :wink:

1 Like
8

Love the silhouette and the way the trees below are holding the frame together !

1 Like