Got to practise on these chaps at the weekend with the 55-250ml lens. Think I have made a spot of progress with the focus point since my butterfly post - interested to see what others think. Feel free to comment

Dyane,

you are a lucky girl to have such great birds near to you.

I think with a little bit post processing the pictures could be improved a little bit.

If you would allow me, I would post an example.

Cheers,

Stefan

Good series Dyane, noticed you managed to get the lens stopped down well for dof.

How have you got the camera setup in the 'picture' menu? I wonder if you need to notch up the sharpness by one as the pictures are missing that razor edge sharpness look

Hi Stefan, thanks for having a look. I am hopeless at PP, so please feel free to muck about with the shots - no probs at all. Look forward to seeing your results.

These birds were not that near ....... I had a good 2 hours drive to see these guys, and its the first time I have ever seen Bird No.1 up close. George scared him off the first time, but fortunately for me he came back, though his was a bit nervous !!

Yip I agree about the lack of razor sharpness ......... how have I cgot the camera set up hmmmmm now you are asking, I'm still trying to figure it out

Just a little bit of PP.

I hope you like it.

Cheers,

Stefan

Wow Diane, great shots! How far away were you? Artistically, I really like the last one...maybe it's the lighting and the background water, but it draws me in.

Good shots D. I am still playing with picture control adjustments on the Nikon. It was easier on the Panny with the forum members sharing their best settings!

Hi Saly & Banksy, thanks for your encourgement. I am useless at guessing distances ...... Bird 1, probably 7 meters from him and zoomed right up to 250ml and Bird 2 around 5 meters, again at the 250ml end. Got him just as the sun was going down. I'm still figuring out the Canon controls and settings as well

I was

Some wonderful photos - great color and composition, great captures of the personalities of both the cormorant and the gull.

You asked for suggestions for sharpness. I am NOT an expert, but have taken a fair number of bird photos with long lenses. Just a few suggestions:
Reading your EXIF data, it looks like you were using a very small F stop on most of these - some lenses will actually produce softer photos when stopped down too far.
Also the resulting slower shutter speeds can make the photo softer because of hand shake, and also because of slight movement of feathers in air currents.
Were you using a tripod? Tripod has really helped me a lot in getting sharper bird photos, especially with the long & heavy glass.

Keep up the fine work, and keep on posting the great results!

PS - it looks like you have a dust spot or 2 on the sensor - look for example at the second photo, just above the beak and also in the lower left corner.