You can't see me

[John Chardine]

I couldn't resist posting this one. A male American Robin was resting on some mud by the side of a creek at the Sackville Waterfowl Park. I was walking back to the car and happened to see him out of the corner of my eye. I stopped and then realised I had to back up to obtain minimum focus. He did not react at all to me stopping although I was very careful not to disturb him. Here is a portrait of this great bird created with my 500mm macro lens.

I didn't do much else but crop and run the standard processing.

40D, 500mm f4
capture date: Friday, June 6, 2008 7:19:42 PM
EXIF version: 2.2
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 640
shutter speed: 1/80
aperture: f6.3
exposure bias: -0.3
metering: Pattern
light source: Auto
flash: ON - Compulsory flash mode

[Gus Cobos]

Great close up pose,
The details on the feathers are superb...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

I like it John!!! Would go wide open and make sure to be right on the eye !!! As presented might want to blur the bg just a bit to make the bird pop. Also would select the bill and make it denser !!!

[Steve Maxson]

Wow! I don't think I've seen a robin macro shot before. Love the detail in the breast feathers. I think Alfred has made a couple of good suggestions to make this image even better.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very nice closeup, light, details and BG. Maybe a bit more space and this robin needs to clean its beak. :)

[John Chardine]

Many thanks to all. Yes I had a feeling the bill was close to being blown, at least one of the colour channels.

[John Chardine]

Here's the repost. I made an assumption about what "denser" meant and played with the bill. Also added some Gaussian blur to the BG.