Birding with my 300mm + 1.4x teleconverter

I was out there in the morning waiting... I wanted to catch some birds... but none seemed to be in the precinity. And I thought it was a wasted wait... then it all happen...

One of them landed right in front of me... and so I being shooting like mad.

ISO: 400, S: 1/80, A: f/6.3

Well... I keep the aperture relatively small so that the entire bird will be in focus while the background was a nice blur. Also it is important to shoot at the eyes... to capture the liveliness of the eyes of the bird.

ISO: 400, S: 1/80, A: f/6.3

ISO: 3200, S: 1/800, A: f/5.6

Well... one thing led to the other, after this bird had flew off... and I was back to the house... that afternoon, I went out to try my luck again... and it is holding up.

ISO: 400, S: 1/320, A: f/5.6

ISO: 400, S: 1/320, A: f/5.6

ISO: 500, S: 1/250, A: f/5.6

This humming bird also landed near me... somewhere on the roof of my neighbour and is facing me. Well... like the other one, I focus mainly on her eyes, and position myself in such a way that I could capture the eyes of the humming bird with some of the sunlight falling off its eyes, so that it glittered.

The next day, I was shooting at some birds again... when one of them flew near me for the third time... I must be very very lucky that few days. And the bird perched at a branch in my garden, and I was able to shoot at it for all I was worth.

ISO: 3200, S: 1/125, A: f/13

ISO: 3200, S: 1/125, A: f/13

ISO: 3200, S: 1/125, A: f/13

Well... it only goes to show... you must be patient when shooting birds... and also to a certain extend, lucks also plays a part. If the birds are too far away, my lens will not be able to get a clear clean shot. If they are too near, I would have to move back and the movement (myself, tripod with camera and lens) will alert the bird and it will flew off.

Anyway, shooting bird, a tripod is necessary because we are using telephoto lenses...and unless you have a very very good shooting technique coupled with high speed and good IS, it is very very difficult to achieve a blur free shot.

From some of my attached exif, it is not difficult to see that some of my photos are taken at very high ISO. Of course ideally, your ISO was not to exit 400 to 800 to keep noise at a bare minimal... however, when an opportunity came up. Please be sure to take that opportunity, even if it means pushing your ISO to 3200 and above.

It is better to have a noisy photos then not to have a photo at all. Plus noise can be corrected during PP, and in a smaller print, you would not even notice them. Plus nowadays, digital sensor had already reach a very manageable noise range, so it is pretty alright to have a high ISO.
So in conclusion, get a lens that could shoot far (a 300mm is a minimum that could get you close enough, but not too close to your nervous subject. if you can afford... get a teleconverter to extend the range). And don't forget... use a tripod whenever possible.