First attempt at Bird Photography

Good evening all

I bought a 100-400 a few days ago and as their was no motorsport on this weekend I thought I would have a go at bird photography. I didnt relise how hard it would be especially tracking birds in the sky by time I had got one in the viewfinder it had gone and all that left was a picture of the sky .
Hints and tips welcome.

Just the one as my others are not really that good

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/92661602@N05/8​458353003/

Very nice, sharp.

At least you got one! I couldn't possibly count the number of empty branch photos I have had to delete! Sometimes you luck out and get a bird in flight...by accident!

Shucks, I think you have a heck of a start-sharp, level. bird looking into the frame. Your background in m'sports, unless it's wheelchair races, gives you excellant experience for this. Best advice-practice. Welcome to this section-if you choose to stay.

Best advice from here would just be "practice". That's a great shot to start out with; the more "domestic" birds like that Starling are great subjects to being with because they'll be a lot more tolerant of you.

This is a good, solid shot, but I'm guessing you had the focus point dead center on the bird's breast; at 5.6 your DoF is shallow enough that the face/eyes are just *slightly* out of focus. The eyes are the most important part of birds/wildlife; so, you really want to make sure they're falling in your DoF most of the time. Sometimes, a slight softening as you have here is overlooked due to other, less common action, posing, etc; but, for the most part you want to make sure to nail the eyes.

Nicely framed on a low angle. Good job.

Very nice. Love the framing and low angle.