Capt James' Suggestions for Long Lens Technique.
1)Use a Stable tripod.
2)You can use a ballhead but for action or birds in flight I much prefer a Gimbal Head. My first choice is the Mongoose 3.5a my second choice is a Wimberley type I or II.
3)When using slow shutter speeds in critical non-action situations, I lock the tripod collar and all ballhead / Gimbal head adjustments.
4) I press my face against the back of the camera body (cheek or eyebrow), right hand on the camera grip and I rest my left hand on the lens above the tripod head. Think of it this way. If you have a tuning fork and tap it on something, while only holding the end, vibration will travel through the fork causing sound. Do the same thing but this time put your fingers in the middle of the tuning fork. No sound! You effectively absorbed the vibration causing the sound.
With a long lens vibrations are magnified. So your face and hand are doing the same thing, reducing the vibration that causes image softness. I called this Nikon's HF(hand / face)vibration reduction system before VR:).
5)I always level my tripod, helps with the horizon and the Gimbel head will work more smoothly.
6) I extend the lower legs as little as possible, they are the smallest, least rigid.
7)Rather than extending each leg fully out, when possible I try to leave about 6" of each leg in the tube above.The legs will be more rigid, much less wiggle.
8)I will "load" the tripod up, making sure the I have the legs pulled apart to their widest diameter.
9)Wiggle down. If I am in grass I wiggle the tripod to get through the grass into the soil.
10)I take my left foot(just more comfortable to me) and place it on the inside bottom of the tripod leg to my left. I then place my shin/knee on the outside of the same tripod leg.
11)I prefer spiked legs for grassy locations. For boardwalks I will put cane caps on the bottom of the legs, they help in preventing vibrations from traveling up the tripod legs from the boardwalk. I do the same for mud, it's a little wider foot print.
12)Balance camera/lens combo on chosen head.
James