Eastern Yellow Robin

[Mark Rayner]

These little guys are found in the rainforests of Eastern Australia. One of my favourites as they tend to follow you along the tracks and are very inquisitive.

D3
Nikkor 400 f/2.8 VR
ISO 500
1/800s
f/3.2
-1/3 Exp comp

82897

[AlvanBuckley]

Wow! If only our robins in NAmerica looked like that!
Good detail on the bird, but it seems like a tight crop and I find the white spot above/around the head is distracting.
Not a typical head angle but I like it!

TFS

[Andrew Merwin]

I agree with Mr. Buckley. I like the sharpness in the feathers & the unusual HA.
TFS

[Tony Whitehead]

These are lovely birds, Mark. You've handled the yellows well but the image looks a bit dark. I have tried a version just opening up the midtones with levels but using fill light in raw conversion may be better. Added a bit of selective sharpening around the eye and breast too. The bright area in the BG is a distraction and probably responsible for under-exposing the bird. A little puff of fill flash may have been an option.

[Slider27]

Oops. The old login popped up.

[Mark Rayner]

Thanks for the comments folks. I do love the feather detail that's achievable on these little guys but with the dappled light I was trying to avoid any hotspots as it's very easy to blow the yellows and lose detail. I've got a few that are better exposures but the head angle on this one is what caught my attention. I always find that when I visit the rainforest looking for new subjects I end up chasing these little robins. They are real characters :D

I have to dig out a few more when I get a moment.

Thanks for the editing suggestions Tony.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Typical robin pose Mark and welcome to BPN by the way. :) It leaves any site behind for the amount of learning one can take away. :)

I think the bill merging with the body is not ideal and as Tony suggested fill flash is a God-send in these situations. I would be curious to know two things and I hope you don't mind answering, knowing how these birds are not what I would call a gull (being very tame) and seeing that you used a 400mm lens on a full frame body.

1) How did you get it this close to you?
2) How much did you crop from the original?

Looking forward to more images from you. :)

[Mark Rayner]

Typical robin pose Mark and welcome to BPN by the way. :) It leaves any site behind for the amount of learning one can take away. :)

I think the bill merging with the body is not ideal and as Tony suggested fill flash is a God-send in these situations. I would be curious to know two things and I hope you don't mind answering, knowing how these birds are not what I would call a gull (being very tame) and seeing that you used a 400mm lens on a full frame body.

1) How did you get it this close to you?
2) How much did you crop from the original?

Looking forward to more images from you. :)

Thanks for the welcome Ákos :D

It was a fair crop (original attached for comparison)

The Eastern Yellow Robins are very inquisitive and the birds around O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat (where this was photographed) are quite used to human activity so it isn't too difficult to get reasonably close. I do have some photos of an Eastern Yellow Robin on a nest which was only 6 feet off the track. Apparently they nest like that quite often, the theory being that they know that people won't hurt them but the human activity keeps potential predators away. Smart birds.

83050

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Cool mate thanks. :) I heard a lot of good about O'Reillys. I must visit there sometime. :) Keep 'em coming mate.