Digiscoping

Last May I had bought a Swarovski spotting scope and all the necessary items to connect to my Lumix camera to effectively use the scope as a very long lens.  This form of photography is called digiscoping and considered a good way to capture images of wildlife from extreme distances. I am licensed to photograph at a Peregrine Falcon nest site and the scope was purchased to help capture better images of the nesting activities there.  During the Autumn my cataract started to develop and it became impossible to use the scope because without the help of automatic focus it is imperative to be able to see well to correctly focus. Now that my cataract has been removed and my eyes are recovering I went to use it yesterday just to see what I could come up with.  I was quite pleased with the results because I was able to get photographs of the the birds that were too distant to photograph with my DSLR camera.  Today, with better sunnier conditions I am confident that I will be able to do a little bit better.  Oystercatchers are a common bird on the Exe Estuary and at high tide they move on to grassland nearby to feed on earthworms in the soft turf.  There is usually  a large flock of several hundred birds amongst Curlew, Brent Geese and Godwits. Digiscoping is obviously an art in itself and I need to practice much more if I am going to be 100% happy with the images.  I heard a great quote the other day, when a photographer had been asked if he had taken lots of pictures he replied that  "I have taken lots of photographs but only finished up with a few pictures" I love that quote and I think this sums up these photographs. I will be disappointed if I can't get them slightly sharper when I try again.