Nothing says holiday season in the UK more than a photograph of a red robin, bob, bob, bobbin’ along – and that’s exactly what Jonathan Stubbs managed to capture with his Nikon D3500 during a visit to Elvaston Castle Country Park in Derbyshire, England.
But this wasn’t by accident; Jonathan has photographed plenty of European robins over the years. He tells me: “I have a great love for robins. I find them incredibly beautiful, with the most wonderful, inquisitive personalities. If I see one, I'll always concentrate my efforts on trying to get a nice shot.”
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And that’s exactly what he managed to do with this close-up of a little bird sitting on a branch, the viewer's eye immediately drawn to that iconic red breast.
But Jonathan has come up with an unusual, yet effective, method for photographing these beautiful birds. “One of the things that works for me when I'm looking for robins is that I wear red – they seem attracted to it,” he says.
A key technique when photographing any bird is to use a wide aperture to create a shallow depth of field, and therefore blur the background, so the subject ‘pops’ from a typically busy backdrop of branches and foliage.
“I used an aperture of f/4.8 to blur the background, it was the widest I could go with my Nikon AF-S DX 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR at my chosen focal length. I think it worked great, though.”
"I have a great love for robins. I find them incredibly beautiful, with the most wonderful, inquisitive personalities."
As is often the case with bird photography, Jonathan’s biggest challenge was focusing on the little critter as it bobbed from branch to branch. It’s always best to switch to AF-C / AI-Servo AF when photographing moving subjects like birds.
Some of the best mirrorless cameras boast bird AF modes, but if you’re using one of the best DSLRs you may wish to go with a more traditional single-point AF or dynamic-area AF/Zone AF.
Remarkably, Jonathan managed to capture a sharp shot at a slow 1/30 sec, so a very steady hand was required. “I held my breath before I pressed the shutter button to help avoid camera shake,” he says.
When it comes to photographing robins in the future, Jonathan would like to get his hands on one of the best lenses for bird photography: “I would like to try to take one with a 600mm lens, not necessarily to zoom in further as I like to see the environment, but I believe a longer prime lens would produce a better quality shot.”
You can see more of Jonathan's incredible work (including more Robins!) by visiting his portfolio.
Check out previous Photo of the Day images, and the stories behind them. If you have an image you'd like us to consider for Photo of the Day, email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com
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