New to Photography, New to Birding

Please feel free to help me in the right direction if i am going wrong, these 2 were taken through glass (bad i know, trying to sort a DIY shelter out) and have done no PP at all. shot at largest jpg on a 40d with a 75-300mm USM II lens.

thanks

You should be able to crop it down some, You don't need that much detail for a web posting, Try working with your levels a bit to give it the "pop" look

my main struggle is getting them in focus at 300mm, is this just something that will get better as i learn ISO, Shutter speeds and F stops?

cheers, i will give it a go

I depend on the camera to focus. You may need to watch your shutter speed at 300mm. You should have a tripod and be shooting 1/500thsec IMHO. I don't kow your shooting data?

both were on a tripod, both were shot in Av.

Blue Tit (Pic1)
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Long Tailed Tit (pic2)
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 400

really nice shots , just need some cropping i would say , they look nice and sharp , i really like the long tailed tit , bet that took some getting , they just flit around all the time , well done .

i would love to say i went looking for the pair of long tailed tits, but i will be honest and say that i was set up in front of the feeders at my father in laws house and as they are in the country a bit they seem to get a good variety of birds feeding. i am still teaching myself basic photography stuff (ISO's, F stops, Shutter speeds, etc) i am doing it on a shoe string as i used all my cash on the body and saw the long tailed tits arrive and sort of hoped for the best a bit. i was lucky enough i had about 2 hours practice before the came though.

photography seems to be a lot of right place right time, and i love that !

The biggest difference you'll see will come from (a) not shooting through glass and (b) getting your shutter speeds up. Unless you're on a tripod, you'll need a minimum of 1/the focal length * 1.6 -- so 1/400 to 1/500.

i think out side is better try it !!!!!!!

thanks everyone for your comments, will defo try outside and use that calculation for the shutter speeds.