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Ben Page
01-23-2008, 04:17 PM
I had a wonderful day yesterday walking around College Lake Wildlife Centre near Tring. At one point of the walk I noticed this Robin. He (I'll assume it's a he!) was totally unafraid of me and allowed me to photograph him at various perches and distances. :)

Technical Details:
Canon 1D Mark III, Canon 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4 extender (420mm), monopod, 1/640 @ f/8, ISO400. Image output from Lightroom into Photoshop, some noise reduction and a little sharpening.

All comments welcome, I'm very keen to learn!

Cheers,
Ben

Nonda Surratt
01-23-2008, 06:36 PM
What a lovely bird, great colors and detail, wish our Robins looks so pretty!:) Quite a lot to really like about this image, nice job!

Only thing that sorta bothers me is the bird seems a bit low in the frame? Wish there was a bit less on top I think and a bit more on the bottom?

George DeCamp
01-23-2008, 08:12 PM
Beautiful bird, I like this image as well!! If pressed for a nit or 2 I would say maybe a little off the top and the out of focus lower branch bothers me a little it takes my eye off the bird. A little bit more of a head turn would have given you a better catch light as well.

I'll tell you though this image stands well as is, you did really well with this!!!

Ben Page
01-24-2008, 01:42 AM
Many thanks for your kind comments. :)

Good points about the vertical positioning and oof branch (he was sat in a bush for this photo) and head turn/catch light. I can use these next time :)

Cheers,
Ben

Judd Patterson
01-24-2008, 02:19 AM
Yes, you did have a great day yesterday, Ben. This is a fine image. I really like the sharpness and the habitat that shows gently through your background and foreground. Good work!

Ben Page
01-25-2008, 01:45 PM
Thanks Judd! I had a lot of fun with this guy. He kept on getting too close for the lens to focus so I'd spend that time just looking and chatting to him (yeah, I know it's daft but he seemed to be listening!). At one point he flew right at me, almost perching on the lens hood. Instead he hopped 6 inches back and admired his reflection in the lens!

If ever I needed a second camera body it was then. I could have taken a couple of steps back and had a wonderful image of a robin looking down the 300mm! :)

Gautam Biswas
01-25-2008, 02:06 PM
And a tripod Ben, as when you would step back to make the image, the 1DIII with the 300mm will need more than a monopod to stand on!!
Jokes apart, a wonderful image.

Ben Page
01-25-2008, 02:29 PM
LOL! Thanks Gautam, forgot to mention, at that point the camera and lens were leaning on a sturdy wooden fence so wouldn't have needed the tripod! :)

Maybe time to post one of those images on the general forums!