Super tele photo not necessary.

[MN Shutterbug]

One thing I hear more than any other from beginning photographers is, they wish they had a longer lens. Many photographers have lenses up to 300mm and in many cases that is sufficient. While raising money for a boat this spring, I took a 70-200 lens as partial trade for my 100-400. I did hang onto my 1.4 TC but still can only get out to 280mm. I have found out that in many cases, that is all the focal length you need. In some cases, like with my fox photos, a blind may be necessary and in some cases, like the examples here, you just need to wait and let them get close enough. To get these bird photos, I sat on a stool about on the opposite side of the feeders as the trees and just waited for them them to end up in a nice background. It takes a bit of patience and some birds will be more wary, but you can get plenty of decent shots with a 300mm lens. No matter how long a lens you have, it still won't be long enough in all cases, so enjoy and take advantage of what you have.

[yoppdk]

Here's more on the subject:

http://digital-photography-school.com/no-telephoto-lens-no-problem-tips-on-shooting-for-the-crop/

[MN Shutterbug]

Good article. That is why I always center the birds in the shot because I know there will always be cropping afterwards and at that time I can make them appear more pleasing to the eye.

[eyeguy 54]

cropping and fine tuning a pic is so much fun. Gotta love Digital.