Techniques - Wildlife

Your back garden is a good place to practise your techniques, but the best animal shots are taken in the wild.
Try baiting your subject by laying down a favourite food and then waiting for them to con and ruck in.
Learning about your subject's habits will reap rewards. There's no point in going our during the day if your subject is nocturnal.
Long telephoto lenses are a necessity. If you can't afford a 300mm or 400mm lens, fit a 2x converter to your telezoom although this does lose two stops of light.
As an alternative, fit a wide-angle lens, place your camera in an area you know your subject will come to and fire from a distance using a remote control system.
Use a monopod or tripod to support your camera. When using a monopod, form a triangle with your feet and monopod, this provides a more stable platform.
Build a hide to get really close to your subject. Make sure it is well camouflaged.
Don't dress in bright clothing or wear strong aftershave or perfume
Go to the zoo! Use the shallow depth-of-field of a long lens at a wide aperture to send enclosures our of focus

Be patient. Most birds and animals are naturally timid so may take some time before they become used to your presence.

Use wide apertures to throw the background out of focus and concentrate in your subject.

Setting to try out...

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Focus Mode: AF-C (continuous)

Shutter speed: 1/500 sec or faster

Lens: 300mm or Longer

To improve your shots...

Keep the AF point positioned over the head of the bird to keep this sharp.
Bright reflections can cause under-exposure, so you may need to set +1 exposure compensation.
Try to learn when a bird os about to fly for dramatic action shots

Tip

Using a monopod or a tripod with a video of gimbal head will steady the camera, and also take the weight of long, heavy lenses.