Male Ruby throated hummingbird; C&C please

My new 100-400L lens is helping get closer captures, but I’m still frustrated with the lack of sharpness and general image quality.
I would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism.
Thanks for looking!

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …94438230@N07/14​074223611/

My pictures look like this if I am too far away with my 400L f5.6 lens, especially with small birds. I also have better luck on a tripod.

Bump up your aperture to f/8. Looks to be a large crop so you are going to lose some IQ. You will need to practice your long lens holding technique also. Left hand should be under the barrel and support, not holding, the lens. Using your body like when shooting onhand with a rifle is also a good thing to do.

SJC from VT wrote in post #16873706
My pictures look like this if I am too far away with my 400L f5.6 lens, especially with small birds. I also have better luck on a tripod.

2n10 wrote in post #16873742
Bump up your aperture to f/8. Looks to be a large crop so you are going to lose some IQ. You will need to practice your long lens holding technique also. Left hand should be under the barrel and support, not holding, the lens. Using your body like when shooting onhand with a rifle is also a good thing to do.

Sandy and John, I treasure your comments.
Instead of buying more/better gear, just be more precise with what you already have.
I love it.
Thank you!

ISO 4000 on a 60D. That's what you will get. Tons of chromatic noise. You either need to shoot when there is more light available to you or use a better beamer to help you out. You have reach the limit of what the camera can give you in term of iso performance.

Tripod sure helped me with my 400.

Barry, I'll echo what John said above about the possible large crop (loss of IQ) and also moving to f/8 as I've noticed that the 100-400mm is sharpest at that aperture. To reduce noise you can bring your ISO down some. A shutter speed of 1/1000 is plenty for a resting Hummer unless you are trying to catch some action. Also it seems the focus fell just short of the bird as the perch seems to be slightly clearer.
Just a few things I noticed. Hope it helps.

I didn't check your ISO until it was mentioned above. That could very well be a big part of your problem. I try to keep my ISO around 800 or below to avoid noise with my 60D.

fogboundturtle wrote in post #16873810
ISO 4000 on a 60D. That's what you will get. Tons of chromatic noise. You either need to shoot when there is more light available to you or use a better beamer to help you out. You have reach the limit of what the camera can give you in term of iso performance.

CMOats wrote in post #16873820
Tripod sure helped me with my 400.

txcanon wrote in post #16873984
Barry, I'll echo what John said above about the possible large crop (loss of IQ) and also moving to f/8 as I've noticed that the 100-400mm is sharpest at that aperture. To reduce noise you can bring your ISO down some. A shutter speed of 1/1000 is plenty for a resting Hummer unless you are trying to catch some action. Also it seems the focus fell just short of the bird as the perch seems to be slightly clearer.
Just a few things I noticed. Hope it helps.

SJC from VT wrote in post #16874356
I didn't check your ISO until it was mentioned above. That could very well be a big part of your problem. I try to keep my ISO around 800 or below to avoid noise with my 60D.

Excellent.
I feel like I've just been to school... and had some very good teachers.
I can't wait to try out your recommendations.
Thank you all very much!

You've gotten some wonderful advice from wonderful birding photographers Barry.
I would add that if you go the tripod route a remote release helps reduce camera shake too.

I'll take an additional approach since you've not mentioned anything about PP. My feeling is that a good image in the camera is a whole lot easier to edit, but good editing can salvage a marginal image into something.....let's say acceptable. I took some liberties since you had "Image Editing OK" on so see what you think. It took me less than 5 minutes.

IMAGE LINK: http://s407.photobucke​t.com …8_b2_zpse333374​4.jpg.html

CamFan01 wrote in post #16875345
You've gotten some wonderful advice from wonderful birding photographers Barry.
I would add that if you go the tripod route a remote release helps reduce camera shake too.

I'll take an additional approach since you've not mentioned anything about PP. My feeling is that a good image in the camera is a whole lot easier to edit, but good editing can salvage a marginal image into something.....let's say acceptable. I took some liberties since you had "Image Editing OK" on so see what you think. It took me less than 5 minutes.

IMAGE LINK: http://s407.photobucke​t.com …8_b2_zpse333374​4.jpg.html

Oh yeah! What a difference, Steve.
All I've been using is Canon DPP . . . primarily because I'm hardheaded and think I ought to be able to get it right "in camera."
You've about convinced me to take the plunge.
Did you use Photoshop for this?
Thank you very much for taking the time to do this!!

I viewed this post earlier and refrained from commenting since expert advice was being presented. But one thing wasn't mentioned-Does the 60D have the micro-adjustment feature? That's fine tuning the AF of the lens to mate perfectly w/ your camera. If it does, you might investigate. Use the "Search" feature in the forum to learn more.

I try not to go above 400 ISO. It is a good compromise between getting good shutter speeds and low noise. Your 60d has pretty good noise control you could probably go to 800. I know some will say push your ISO, its not so bad and the ISO performance of your camera is good. It is still best to go with the lowest ISO you can get away with, as noise will effect sharpness, and high ISO takes away some tonal range.If you just have to get the shot and there's no other way, that's when I push the ISO, but it's best to keep it as low as possible. The 100-400's IS works quite well and I'm surprised at how low shutter speeds I can get away with. That being said if you want really high shutter speeds and low ISO, and your light isn't so great. The next option is to use a better flash Like a 400ex or 800ex for example. One that has "high speed sync" that will fire regardless of how high you set your shutter speed. "Better Beamers" are cheap and actually work quite well if you need more reach out of your flash.

ardeekay wrote in post #16875574
I viewed this post earlier and refrained from commenting since expert advice was being presented. But one thing wasn't mentioned-Does the 60D have the micro-adjustment feature? That's fine tuning the AF of the lens to mate perfectly w/ your camera. If it does, you might investigate. Use the "Search" feature in the forum to learn more.

Rog, I think you nailed one of the main problems, however it doesn't look like the 60D has micro adjustment. I'll keep looking. Thanks!

Crimzon wrote in post #16875817
I try not to go above 400 ISO. It is a good compromise between getting good shutter speeds and low noise. Your 60d has pretty good noise control you could probably go to 800. I know some will say push your ISO, its not so bad and the ISO performance of your camera is good. It is still best to go with the lowest ISO you can get away with, as noise will effect sharpness, and high ISO takes away some tonal range.If you just have to get the shot and there's no other way, that's when I push the ISO, but it's best to keep it as low as possible. The 100-400's IS works quite well and I'm surprised at how low shutter speeds I can get away with. That being said if you want really high shutter speeds and low ISO, and your light isn't so great. The next option is to use a better flash Like a 400ex or 800ex for example. One that has "high speed sync" that will fire regardless of how high you set your shutter speed. "Better Beamers" are cheap and actually work quite well if you need more reach out of your flash.

Crimzon, I feel stupid admitting that I've never tried using a flash to lower the ISO. Sounds like a great technique to get some HBIF shots. Thanks!

Thank you so much for more great commentary and recommendation . . .

Barry, one of the members, don't remember who but wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the repliers above, that pointed me in the direction of flash assistance in hummer shots. Using an external flash, I have the 430, you set it on manual, high speed and reduced power, 1/4. 1/8 or even lower. This reduced power doesn't reduce the intensity, it cuts the duration of the flash. Thus, you use this to freeze the action, not the SS. And you can use f8 or so for a more friendly aperature. Use manual mode and set ss to a middling 1/400 0r so to minimize ambient light from ghosting the bird. A side benefit here is the flash often actually causes the hummer to pause, curious about the light, and you get more shots. Hope this makes sense. Good luck!