Flying Squirrel + Repost

I went to the Pavillion Gardens in Buxton today intending to practice taking flight shots of the ducks and gulls but the best of the session was this shot of a Grey Squirrel leaping from one branch to another. I have cropped about 25% of the image and have removed some twigs which were in front of the body along with a leaf in front of the face. Most of the other 250 or so shots were binned as I struggle to get the focus to lock on or, when I do, the images are just not sharp!

Canon EOS 40D
Canon 100-400 lens at 400mm hand held with IS on
ISO 800
Tv 1/1600
Av F 7.1
Exp +1

Comments please as I am a begginer in Photoshop

Hi Andy

A very different shot with a unique perspective. Getting the camera to lock on to moving fur is always very difficult in these low contrast situations especially with all those nice branches it can lock on to instead. You've done well to get anything at all and it looks sharp to me. Good stuff

Andy

You did well with such a difficult exposure. I agree it looks sharp.

Agree with the above and also i have the 40d and 100-400, not the fastest of lenses and i do find my 40d's AF struggles, especially with animals that are moving quickly but there again, I;ve not got the best technique in the world!!

Good action capture Andy and not much really you can do about the background. As you have removed some stuff in PP perhaps revisit it and take out the couple of oof pieces which appear to be floating below its leg/belly.
Robert

I always find it a stuggel shooting into trees as the autofocus picks up almost anything except for the subject. I think you have done extremely well here to get something most of us see, but find hard to photograph.

David

Thanks for your comments. I have tweeked the image a bit following Robert's comment and have reposted.