To get more brightness,
1. Most costly approach is to get a faster lens.
2. Use a flash if possible (I've seen many bird photographers use an extension magnifier (don't know what they are called) on their flash to get extra reach). Most good off camera flash units will have a zoom feature as well (my Sony goes up to 85mm, 58 GN, the Nikon SB900 goes up to 200mm, but with lower GN).
3. Alternately - shoot RAW, allows for more recovery as the bit range is greater.
4. Increase your ISO to allow for fast enough shutter speed, however picture is likely to reduce in quality to higher you go. Of course the more you crop, the more the gain is noticeable.
5. Photoshop tricks abound. For a quick fix, I adjust levels (white and black points as well as adjusting midtones to increase contrast), then adjust saturation (usually increase it to give a warmer overall cast is possible). Some people select in camera adjustments (e.g. vivid), doing this in Photoshop (I use Elements 7) allows for more control. Of course applying a little sharpening is also useful to bring out the best in the pics. (Overdoing anything can be as bad as/worse than not doing anything. I often take it too far and then back off some).
6. Wait around for better light.
7. Creep closer.
I'm sure other people have other suggestions as well.
Graham
