Erithacus Rubecula

[Lurch]

I was lucky enough to snag this shot of a Robin which is my best to date.

Description
The UK's favourite bird - with its bright red breast it is familar throughout the year and especially at Christmas! Males and females look identical, and young birds have no red breast and are spotted with golden brown. Robins sing nearly all year round and despite their cute appearance, they are aggressively territorial and are quick to drive away intruders. They will sing at night next to street lights.

[xxpinballxx]

Its a great catch but seems a bit noisy and a slight bit out of focus? Im guessing it was due to the lens that you were using and its capabilities but I can not see the EXIF data....
I see the tail and can see it was in motion wither landing or preening. Do you know what your setting were and what f/stop you had it at? I like the colors and the post or fence or whatever its sitting is looks pretty clear and sharp at its far end so it was more in focus and ore blur than anything I think.
EXIF would be a great help on this one....

[Iman_D80]

That is a nice capture!
Did you apply any sharpening in pp? The sharpening halos are a bit noticeable imho.

[Lurch]

Shot with a Sigma 70-300mm APO at 270mm.

Exif

[wulf]

Unfortunately that misses the ISO setting; I suspect it was quite high. You could try selecting the background and applying enough blur to lose the noise that is visible on what should be smooth transitions of diffuse light.

You caught it at a great moment though. My experience is that many robins are quite bold round people, especially once they have got used to you. Over Christmas I visited a garden in Devon and one of my problems taking shots of the robins I saw was that they often hopped too close (while I was trying to track them with the long end of my 70-300mm lens.

Of course, like all birds, they normally demonstrate an uncanny ability to move just at the point where your brain starts to send the signal to press the shutter!

Wulf

[xxpinballxx]

I think they can hear the finger tendons starting to press the shutter!
I agree about the ISO and good job not going full out. Most lenses will soften the
image just a tad at the longest end.