Juvenile Herring Gull

Nikon D7000
Nikon 70-300 VR f4.5-5.6
1/500 sec f6.3
iso 100 230mm
Full hazy sun


Been Birding for maybe 6 months here and there and I never seem to get the sharpness or just overall look of the picture/bird just right. Thought maybe some feedback/insight may help. Would love to get better glass for birding but just don't have the cash so the 70-300vr is the best glass I have for now. Any insight would be helpfull

Are you shooting RAW or JPEG? What kind of post processing are you doing and whit what software.

shoot in Raw
Lightroom 3 for levels, contrast, saturation, exposure
Photoshop elements 10 for selective sharpening
Topaz denoise for noise reduction

All good choices. This print might not be a good example of your birds because of the color of the bird and the color of the background since they are about the same color. There is not a lot of separation. I just used the clarity slider to sharpen it a little and Nic tools Define small changes but it give just a little more separation. If I read your post correctly then you are looking for a little more of a edge in your bird pics.

Just with your settings I see you are using ISO 100, I tend to use a higher ISO when going for bird shots (400'ish) so that my shutter speed can be increased. Blur can be caused by many things, you moving, the bird moving, wind blowing feathers etc so if you increase your shutter and ISO you have a better chance of a sharp image. Also if handholding technique plays a big part in sharp photos, sometimes I set my camera to burst mode and fire off a few shots keeping the sharpest.