American Robin

[Barry Ekstrand]

My first time out with my new 500mm f4L IS II lens on a really dreary, overcast and grey morning. No decent light at all, sunrise was all grey with no hint of the golden hour. But I was determined to try out the new toy and came upon a bunch of Robins in a thicket of trees. This is a shot of one that stayed on a perch for a bit. Also first time out using Manual mode exclusively so this was really a learning exercise for me.

Technical details:

5D Mark III, 500mm f4L IS II lens, EF 1.4x TC
700mm, ISO 2000, f5.6, 1/1250 sec
small crop for aesthetics

Any and all comments appreciated!

Barry

[Grant Yang]

The shooting conditions looked tough indeed. Congratulations on your new lens. Hopefully we'll see many wonderful shots in better conditions.

[Marina Scarr]

This image is quite lovely, although I really wish the Robin had been lower. Would it have been possible to back up to shoot it, thus cutting off a bit of the steep angle? The habitat works nicely here as does the overcast sky.

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp. Looks a bit dark. You need to be close to +3 off the sky in these conditions.... Bird is a bit too centered for sure. Rear focus and point the lens more to the left would have been the ticket.

[Barry Ekstrand]

Thanks to all for the comments.

Marina, thanks for your point on the angle and I agree. The thicket of trees are surrounding a small lake in a park that I went to that morning. I found no waterfowl as I normally would but saw the robins in the trees lining the park. I was creeping along the tree line trying to be stealthy and get close enough where the bird is large in the frame but didn't worry enough about the overall composition. I appreciate your feedback on how to improve it.

Artie, thanks for the comments. My main objective that morning was to experience the lens and also to try to get better exposures by going all Manual, no Av as I have in the past. I appreciate your comment on it still being a bit dark - it looked pretty good to me on the camera review and the histogram was pushed to the right, but I see your point that it could have been exposed a bit more. I think the monocrome grey sky influenced me more than it should have, it created a bright background that I wanted to subdue. I have to say, though, that I was very pleased overall with the exposures I got on manual - exposure on the birds tracking across changing backgrounds stayed consistent, which was not the case for me on Av mode. You have been telling us this for a long while and reinforced it again recently, and I finally gave it a try on this outing. I also came to the conclusion that back button focus will be my next adjustment - it will be a fresh start all the way around for me on the new year.

Thanks again for the help!

Barry

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. Rear focus would make it easier to put the bird right where you want it in the frame while always staying in AI Servo.... hny!