Here is the Eurasian blue tit again, I showed you photos of this species a couple of times already. The photo in this post was shot last March under bad weather conditions and after I got my Tamron 70-300mm lens. I edited the image to make it a bit brighter but sadly I also had to crop the image to show you the subject. I think there was luck involved, I just pressed the shutter button at the right time, and it’s cool that I did so before the bird flew away. My bird photo collection get bigger and bigger, that’s something I like too.
Diary of Dennis 
I rarely shoot birds, because it’s so difficult and you need a long telelens. Once i tried to shoot a bullfinch, wich i like a lot and is not seen very often. But the red male bird sat in a tree and the camera focussed on the leaf. 😦
Yes, it’s really difficult… I think the majority of my bird photos are usually out of focus and I can delete them right away. Others are ok, and you still want to share them even if some things look bad. Over time you develope some techniques to get better results, like using a button on the back to focus, or setting the camera up for fast shutter speed right away and concentrate on birds only during the hike. But at the end, there is still so much luck involved. My main probem is at the moment that my longest focal length lens has 300mm, it’s ok for birds in the park, but when I am in the nature, I am going to crop the hell out of the image at home 😦 I guess, for birding you can’t have enough focal length. Next problem is then aperture, while I got the Tamron 70-300mm for 270€, it has aperture f/4-5.6 and this is very limiting too unless it’s bright and summer. I often have to push the shadows or other sliders in Lighroom like there is no tomorrow 😦 I think I got some cool pictures with this lens over time, it’s just that it would be a hell easier with more professional gear 😀
Currently I don’t take a lot bird photos anymore, it’s just that it will take ages to upload all the photos that I shot during the half year I helped my uncle in Reinfeld. It was unexpected, but Reinfeld is actually a perfect place to take bird photos and it was at times very well possible with 300mm. Back in Lübeck I take less bird photos, because well you know, other than pigeons, common black birds and gulls there are not a lot of interesting birds in a city. I spotted some areas in my city that are cool for bird photos, like the Schellbruch, or along the Trave River, or places outside of the city… but still it’s different, in Reinfeld I just had to walk 50 meters and found myself either on a field, in a forest or close to the pond, surrounded by birds (laugh), even birds that I never saw before in real.
If you are interested in it, I would give it a try. As said, I use a cheap 70-300mm lens. The quality is often poor because you have to crop, but still it’s fun and sometimes the results are even surprisingly good considering the cheap lens. It just takes time to find subjects, sometimes you don’t find a bird for days at all, other days they surround you. There is more time and luck involved
At the moment i have only a 55-210mm for the Sony Alpha. But i am going to switch to Panasonic Lumix. For that system there is a 100-300mm, wich is a 200-600 compared to fullframe. Maybe one day i will shoot a male bullfinch or a Kingfisher. 😉
Yeah smaller sensor or bigger crop factor is good for birding. I think the 300mm in my case are effectively seen 450mm as my D7100 has a crop factor of 1.5, that’s cool. I saw a Kingfisher, that thing was so fast, I had no time to take the shot. The Kingfisher flew over the water like a rocket 😀
That’s a lovely bird and a wonderful freeze-action picture.
It was difficult because of the cloudy weather, but I am glad this one turned out well. Just had to increase exposure and the shadows in Lightroom, but now it’s ok 🙂