Nothing embodies the festive season in the UK more than a photograph of a red robin, bob, bob, bobbin’ along – and that’s precisely what Jonathan Stubbs succeeded in capturing with his Nikon D3500 during a trip to Elvaston Castle Country Park in Derbyshire, England.
However, this wasn’t by chance; Jonathan has taken numerous photographs of European robins over the years. He shares with me: “I have a tremendous affection for robins. I find them extraordinarily beautiful, with the most delightful, curious personalities. Whenever I spot one, I always devote my efforts to attempting to get a nice shot.”
And that’s just what he accomplished with this close-up of a small bird perched on a branch, with the viewer’s gaze immediately drawn to that iconic red breast.
However, Jonathan has devised an unusual yet successful technique for photographing these lovely birds. “One tactic that works for me when I’m on the lookout for robins is that I don red – they seem to be drawn to it,” he remarks.
A crucial method when photographing any bird is to utilize a wide aperture to create a shallow depth of field, thereby blurring the background so that the subject stands out from a typically busy backdrop of branches and leaves.
“I employed an aperture of f/4.8 to obscure the background, which was the widest I could manage with my Nikon AF-S DX 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR at my selected focal length. I think it turned out quite well, though.”
“I have a tremendous affection for robins. I find them extraordinarily beautiful, with the most delightful, curious personalities.”
As is commonly the case in bird photography, Jonathan’s main obstacle was focusing on the small creature as it hopped from branch to branch. It’s best to switch to AF-C / AI-Servo AF when capturing moving subjects like birds.
Some of the top mirrorless cameras feature bird AF modes, but if you’re utilizing one of the best DSLRs, you might want to opt for a more classic single-point AF or dynamic-area AF/Zone AF.
Incredibly, Jonathan succeeded in capturing a crisp image at a slow 1/30 sec, thus requiring a very steady hand. “I held my breath before pressing the shutter button to help prevent camera shake,” he comments.
Regarding photographing robins in the future, Jonathan hopes to acquire one of the best lenses for bird photography: “I would like to attempt to take one with a 600mm lens, not necessarily to zoom in closer since I appreciate seeing the environment, but I believe a longer prime lens would yield a higher quality photo.”
You can explore more of Jonathan’s remarkable work (including more Robins!) by visiting his portfolio.
Explore previous Photo of the Day works, and the narratives behind them. If you have an image you’d like us to examine for Photo of the Day, please email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com
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