Tampa Photography Blog

The new 11-part series from the Discovery Channel called LIFE has me consumed and obsessed. And I'm not the only one.

You don't have to be a professional photographer to see the beauty in the photography captured for this series. And what impresses "photo geeks" like me is the technical aspect of the shoots.

Discovery was smart enough to post video and details with behind-the-scenes insight for people like me.

One of the most interesting scenes was one on Bulldog Bats fishing. I'm sure it doesn't sound ground-breaking but trust me, when you know what went into the three-week shoot, you can appreciate it on a whole new level.

The bats fish at night so there's obstacle number one: light. How do you shoot an animal at night with no light? The crew asked bat experts in Belize to acclimate them to light for three months prior to the shoot. The crew was hoping they would set up, start shooting and the bats would not alter their behavior.

On the first night of shooting, the bats were flying clear of the pond where the crew had set up. No one could understand why the light would affect them now after they seemed to ignore it for so many months. But as the producer was playing with the bat detector, he realized the electric box used to power the lights was giving off the same frequency as the bats. The bats’ frequency was being drowned out by the electric box. And without that frequency, the bats could not echolocate to fish. (They use sound waves to locate prey.)

So, once past the lighting and frequency obstacles, the crew had to photograph the bats flying by at 40 miles per hour and slow it down. Most filming is done at 24 or 25 frames per second. The camera used for the bats shot at 2,000 frames per second slowing the bats down a remarkable 83 times.

Next challenge: how do you know when a bat flying 40 miles per hour will grace you with his presence? The crew used bat detectors to get a warning when the bats were approaching. They set the camera to film eight-second sequences, four seconds before and after the camera was set to record. So, when they saw a bat’s first splash on the water, they got eight seconds of film as he disappeared again.

The last challenge was contending with the weather. It damages camera gear quickly and weakens photographers who often work around the clock for these kinds of projects. The camera the crew brought “died” while on assignment and another one was flown in to save the shoot. With heat and humidity to contend with in Belize, it’s amazing these crews get anything done.

Take a few minutes and check out the series. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

*Photo credit: Discovery Networks*