[Mike.P®]

I have had my DSLR now for around 6 months and have been waiting patiently for the Robins to arrive here in Spain and today I finally managed to get a shot of one. They certainly don't seem to sit around long that's for sure
Pentax K10D & Pentax-K MF 300mm F4 prime.

C&C welcome.

Edited to take out pics with noise reduction applied which have been deleted from Flickr .. see pics below.


And a weed taken with Vivitar macro lens.

Thanks for looking

[Fozzybear]

They really don't stay in one place very long at all so it's great when you get a shot of them - I only recently got my first robin shots too. Nice poses in those.

Have you applied any noise reduction, they look a touch over-smooth? Could be my works monitor though!

[Mike.P®]

Originally Posted by Fozzybear

Have you applied any noise reduction, they look a touch over-smooth? Could be my works monitor though!

Yes, I ran them through Noise Ninja as I thought they looked a bit grainy.
Here are the same without.

[johnaalex]

I think they look ok without the noise reduction, but wonder why the colours are different.

One way to tempt them closer is to use food, how about my nuts?

[Mike.P®]

Originally Posted by johnaalex

I think they look ok without the noise reduction, but wonder why the colours are different.

One was using the flash and the other was without.

[johnaalex]

Originally Posted by Mike.P®

One was using the flash and the other was without.

That would account for the glint in his eye

[Mike.P®]

Ok, I have gone from waiting to take a picture of my first robin to them using our garden as a racing track. There are two of them and they have been flying round the fence, through the trees and over the gate for hours, a couple of times they have been so close I could almost reach out and touch them as they flew past my head.
Boy do they move though.

[Fozzybear]

They do that in my garden too. Robins are VERY territorial and one will have claimed your garden but another is trying to muscle in and the resident one will be trying to chase the other off. They can end in fights that are sometimes fatal.

You might find that the resident one will be singing in the trees or bushes, pretty much the only bird that sings at this time of year, the song is a claim to the territory. My robin sometimes comes down to the feeder and has some food then flys off to my holly tree and sings for a bit.


EDIT: yup, those are definitely better without the NR. I like the new shot too.

This is my one all blurry as he goes at the seed in the feeder tray:

[johnaalex]

Mike that last shot is goody (and I am not just saying that because of a comment in my latest thread )

[scotty94]

Great shots Mike, they are skittish little buggers guess I was just lucky with the one I shot that I posted up ages ago

The last one (third) is my fave and agree they look better with out the noise reduction being applied...good work

[Mike.P®]

Originally Posted by scotty94

guess I was just lucky with the one I shot that I posted up ages ago.

Just been on your Flickr, how the hell did you get that close to him?
As soon as I raised the camera lens they were away.

[scotty94]

Originally Posted by Mike.P®

Just been on your Flickr, how the hell did you get that close to him?
As soon as I raised the camera lens they were away.

Thanks for looking Mike, the shots were taken at a local reservior so I guess this fella was used to people being about, they do get pretty tame once they get used to folks.

He actually came to us, me and the wife had stopped to have a look across a field as there were a few rabbits messing about and he came and flew down onto a concrete post, as I already had the camera out I didn't have to faff around but expected him to fly as I raised it (which he didn't) he just kept flying from post to post posing away and by the end of it I had managed to get within about 8 feet of him