Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

As Bruce says, the camera may be focusing on something besides the bird, try using single point focus.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Along with all the other good advice, primarily higher shutter speed or use a tripod, please note that a camera's focusing algorithm will pick the closest thing to focus on and also needs decent light, contrast, and maybe color to grab a sharp focus. Shooting through branches into low contrast will be a problem. If you shoot at a grey cloudy sky you're autofocus won't be able to lock onto anything.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

Please use the "Quote Reply" button directly under a comment to respond to that comnent, so that we know the context of your response.

You didn't mention which Canon body you were shooting with.

With any lens on a Canon camera, you need to multiply the longest length of the lens by 1.6. If you're not good with math, add half of the lens length to get a rough estimate and use the next highest shutter speed.

The earlier suggestion of using 500 as the slowest shutter speed for the 70-300 is correct. If you don't have steady hands, increase the shutter speed even higher. The longer the lens is, the the faster your shutter speed will need to be.

Next, you need to consider your depth of field and which focal point(s) you have your camera set to use. Personally I only use the center focal point.

Shooting wide open (smallest f-stop #) gives you an extremely shallow depth of field.

To test this, take a tape measure and fully extend it and lock it out. I suggest at least a 20' or 30' length for this experiment, or set up multiple tape measures end to end, butting the pull tabs together in the middle.

Set up your tripod right above one end of the tape measure, and start shooting focusing on the mid-point point on the tape measure(s). I suggest a tape measure so that you can readily see how short or broad the in focus sections of the shot are. This experiment is best done outside in broad daylight.

Set your ISO to Auto, but limit the highest ISO to 400, and priority to "A" and start with your f-stop fully open, and take a shot. Change the f-stop to the next higher number, and take another shot. Keep going until you have gone up through an f-stop of 22. You will notice your exposure times will get longer and longer as the f-stop closes up.

Not only will you learn about depth of field, and how narrow, or broad it can be, but you'll get a good indication of the ISO limits on your camera.

I would also repeat the entire test setting the ISO at 100, at 200, and at 400.

This might seem time consuming and repetitive, but learning the limits of your equipment will help to make you a better photographer in the long run. Knowing when a narrow depth of field will work to your advantage, and when it will be a detriment to your "vision" of the shot is part of developing "An Eye" for composition.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

I agree.

You might have to resort to manual focus if you can't get the auto focus to cooperate with where you are asking it to focus.

Nikon1201

If your shooting at 300mm your shutter speed should be half at 1/300sec for hand held

ole sarg Loc: south florida

I believe you are in error. Your shooting speed should be at least 600 if not more! In fact you should be using a tripod or monopod.

Shutterbug1697 Loc: Northeast

The Canon multiplier is 1.6, NOT .5.

Shooting hand held at 1/150 of a second with a 300mm lens will almost always produce a blurred shot.

The shutter speed should be 1/500 of a second or higher.

clixpix Loc: Surprise, Arizona

If your software has the option of showing you which focusing spot was used for the photo, turn it on and see where the camera focused at the time the shutter clicked. I have had the case where the focusing spot moved off my subject at the time of shutter release and focused on something either behind or in front of the subject. May be a clue.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Practice without birds, focusing on branches, etc. Carefully analyze the images produced and find out which techniques work best.

tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

Great basic info on shutter speeds, ISO, DOF and other topics all rolled into one. Thanks - I learned something here today! :-)

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Good advice here. The problem with shooting with a long lens is that any movement of your hand [or tripod] will be magnified as it travels along the length of the lens. It can be something as simple as pressing the shutter button! The longer the lens, the harder it is to control camera shake without much higher shutter speeds. And remember that the concept of shooting at 1.6x focal length is mostly only valid when your subject is not moving at all or very little. Birds do not hold still for very long. So shutter speeds even higher than 1.6x focal length are safer for unpredictable and fast-moving subjects!

Using a tripod will feel constraining, less spontaneous, than hand-holding. But it will eliminate some of the problems you are having. I use a solid carbon-fiber tripod [less transmission of vibrations than others] and a wired remote shutter release. If I were to use a lens longer than 300mm, I would add a Gimbal to the set-up to provide added mobility along with control. You can continue hand-holding if the lighting conditions are such that you can get adequate exposures at faster shutter speeds and higher ISO.

WILLARD98407 Loc: TACOMA, WA.

Can't see it- can't comment on it.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You are not going to get ANY useful advice until you post a picture with "store original" checked.

Jim Bob

Exactly. But, bless their hearts, the UHH crowd always gives it the old college try. Photo? They don't need no stinkin' photo.

Ernie Misner Loc: Lakewood, WA

The lens may need some auto focus fine tuning to your body and might be front focusing or back focusing slightly. To find out, put the camera on a tripod and focus carefully using Live View to get a shot that sharp and well focused. Then switch to view finder view and refocus looking through the viewfinder. Compare the two shots either by zooming in or on a computer monitor. If the second image is soft then your lens is not calibrated to the body well for focusing through the viewfinder.