Our featured photographer of this month is Richard Ford from www.digitalwildlife.co.uk.
Not only he is a pro digiscoping enthusiast but also an avid DSLR photographer. this interview is a great resource for those stuck wether to buy digiscoping gear for those long shots or stick with DSLR cameras for wildlife and outdoor photography. you can visit Richard's artwork at his website Digital Photography of British wildlife.

Hare - Digiscoped with a Nikon Coolpix 8400
Copyright © Richard Ford - www.Digitalwildlife.co.uk

1- We believe that your area of specialty is digiscoping. Your artworks are mostly related to wildlife photography, macro and specially birds. Now what scope do you use? Do you use different scopes for different scenarios? If true then what models and brands works for you? How about eyepieces? How often do you change eyepieces for different cases?


Many scopes are available and work well for digiscoping my personal choice is a Swarovski ST 80HD the high definition glass in this and other scopes is likely to produce the best result with digiscoping. Other scopes from Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss and other manufactures will give good results. Mine is on older Swarovski model but still highly regarded amongst digiscopers. The new Swarovski eyepieces can be used with this older scope, I own and use the new 30x WD (wide angle) Swarovski eyepiece, but often stay faithful to the 20-60x eyepiece which is very good. It also gives flexibility for framing as you can zoom in and out using the eyepiece as well as the camera, though I rarely use it above 20x as the more magnification you use the more light you need or to put it another way the lower you shutter speed will need to be for the correct exposure. You need more light with the 30x so staying at 20x will give you better shutter speeds for freezing movement.

Kari Post who was our featured photographer couple of months ago has switched from Nikon digital camera equipment to Canon gear. After months of careful consideration, Kari decided to switch from Nikon digital camera and gear to Canon.This grabbed our attention and we asked her for an interview about switching from Nikon to Canon. Kari Post is a professional bird, nature and wildlife photographer with academic background. visit Kari's site for more information.

Angel Wings

Forster's Tern, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia, USA, May 2007
Camera: Canon 1D Mark II N, Lens: Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS USM with Canon 2x Mark II Extender. Settings: 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 400, RAW capture, 88% of full frame, handheld, natural light, processed with Canon DPP and Adobe Photoshop CS3 software.
Knowing your subject is the key to finding good photo opportunities. For example, most species of birds prefer to fly into the wind, so in general the best time to photograph birds in flight is when the wind and sun come from the same direction. Terns hunt for fish by hovering high over the surface of the water and then dive bombing into the water, and they prefer to hunt in areas where fish are close to the surface, such as areas where the water is made rough by an incoming water source. Chris and I spent a whole week at Chincoteague early this summer and one afternoon we noticed several terns consistently hovering in one spot where water was draining out of a culvert. The terns were very close to the bank, and the light and wind were on our side, so I managed to capture hundreds of frames of these terns hunting for fish. I really love the symmetry of the wings and high key look of this shot, making it one of my favorites of the afternoon.

Read through 12 comprehensive questions and answers. See how Kari replies to our questions. What Nikon digital camera is lacking and how Canon covers for that.

Haim Ziv - Artist Bird & Wildlife Photographer

You can Visit Haim Ziv's website here

About OpenDP's November editor's pick artist bird photographer - Kari Post

Kari was born and raised in Northeastern New Jersey where she developed a fond love for animals and nature early on. At age 14, Kari picked up her first SLR camera in a high school photo class and immediately became hooked. As a college freshman, she made the leap to digital, and has since dedicated much of her free time to improving her photography.

Kari Post - Photographer Image © Chris Kayler

Kari's Site was picked by our editor at Open Digital camera & Photography Directory as the site of the month. After reviewing her artistic bird Photography work we chose her for our Featured Photographers of the Month section, for others to learn from her success.