My first GBH(?)

looks like i got a second chance, but unfortunatly i still dont have a tripod, cloudy, alot of coffee, and it was across the creek. So out of 30 pics, these 2 where the least blurry. I had to heavily crop them and minimize them and make it a bad quality to fit. im uploading them to my flickr now if anyone wants to see them.

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They're quite nice actually. Just try to get a bit closer next time.

i was on the last inch of dirt on the other side of the creek. and honestly if it wasnt so cold and my wife and daughter werent waiting for me, i would of stepped into it.

Just remember each person is different as far as what they like to see in an image. If you're pleased with them that's all that matters. I actually like seeing some environment in wildlife images...like the first one posted for example.

I am almost happy with it. well, happy enough to share it anyway.

Thanks everyone for the input. i appreciate it. learning this is a challange.

I too like environmental shots like this. But as OP indicated that these are already 'heavily cropped' the images seem to be so by necessity. Hence my advice.

oh ok. thanks.

Love the location, that big overturned tree makes for an interesting environment.
I tend to gravitate to the first image over the second.
I find that with the bird off to the side of the frame more, I can then picture it walking the length of the tree.
The following might give a better idea of what I am referring to.
http://www.digitalbird​photography.com/8.1.ht​ml

Bird photography is so addictive!

Not too bad for a first encounter; these guys are definitely a bit tricky to shoot and they're VERY watchful most of the time. Environmental shots of these guys can be quite nice and are likely to be all you can get without some SERIOUS glass (500 f/4, etc) or the time and patience to go sit in a blind for several hours/days.

It looks like you've got a good eye on the settings and all that you need; just work on your approach and lighting. Keep the IS on even when you're running your shutter speed higher; it helps with the handholding at those longer focal lengths. See my birds gallery for some heron examples; they're all shot handheld at 400-ish.

MakeMeShutter wrote in post #13431292
Love the location, that big overturned tree makes for an interesting environment.
I tend to gravitate to the first image over the second.
I find that with the bird off to the side of the frame more, I can then picture it walking the length of the tree.
The following might give a better idea of what I am referring to.
http://www.digitalbird​photography.com/8.1.ht​ml

Bird photography is so addictive!

8.1.4 is what i was trying to do in the first pic. the second was actually about changing the settings and seeing if i could get a better shot without bumping up the iso and shutter speed.

Snydremark wrote in post #13431310
Not too bad for a first encounter; these guys are definitely a bit tricky to shoot and they're VERY watchful most of the time. Environmental shots of these guys can be quite nice and are likely to be all you can get without some SERIOUS glass (500 f/4, etc) or the time and patience to go sit in a blind for several hours/days.

It looks like you've got a good eye on the settings and all that you need; just work on your approach and lighting. Keep the IS on even when you're running your shutter speed higher; it helps with the handholding at those longer focal lengths. See my birds gallery for some heron examples; they're all shot handheld at 400-ish.

k, thanks. i was thinking about sending back my tc and 70-300 to pick up a used 50-500 sigma, but i just cant bring myself to do it. maybe ill start stashing money for one though. I think i need to learn more on the tc and aperature. maybe pick up a better flash and a BB.

If you intend to keep on birding, I really would recommend swapping out for the 100-400 or the Sigma. For now, you might also try taking off the TC an cropping a little more heavily and see what results you get. The TCs, on zooms, tend to give that sort of 'vaseline over glass' look a lot of the time; if you get rid of that, the ability to crop in pretty damned heavily is still there when you can't get close enough.

Not much more to 'learn' on the TC and aperture. You lose 1 stop of aperture for a 1.4x TC (taking your 70-300 to a minimum aperture of f/8) and 2 stops for a 2x TC (taking it to f/11). Most of the time that combo won't AF at all on a non-1 series body; and if it DOES AF, it's likely going to be slow and inaccurate.

Flash CAN help for birds, but I'd really get a longer focal length solution before buying a flash and BB.