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Photos

A Robin in November

A robin looking to the left, standing on a branch.

A little robin looks off to the left in the grounds of Blarney Castle last November. They’re a friendly bird.

If you want more, take a look at the fabulous robin photos that BathNature is posting and follow them!

I think my Blarney Castle membership expires today. I’m uncertain if I’ll renew it as it’s expensive, and I barely used it at all in the past 12 months.


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length240mm
ISO10000
Shutter speed1/250s

Categories
Photos

Robin on the Ground

A little Robin standing on wet autumn leaves on the ground

A few weeks ago, I visited Blarney Castle to take some photos of the Autumn colours. Unfortunately the light was dull, and the ground was wet, but I had my tripod with me, so I set it up for some long exposure shots.

After a few minutes of that, I noticed a flicker out of the corner of my eye. I spotted a robin almost right in front of me! He was literally standing on the large log next to the mushrooms I was photographing. And of course, my camera settings were completely wrong to photograph him. In the 10 seconds it took me to swivel the camera around, fiddle with the settings and look up again, he was flying off to a nearby tree. This time I got a couple of shots of him, and then his friend approached and landed on the ground right by my feet! This time I was ready!

Why do settings change so much? In low light, you have to amplify the light hitting the camera sensor. Sort of like turning up the volume. You know how if you turn the volume up really high you’ll get distortion and crackling (and a headache and sore ears), the same thing happens with cameras. The best quality photo comes when the volume (called ISO for cameras) is turned down to a “normal value” but then it takes longer for the camera to “hear” an image. Damn, I’m straining an analogy here. For most cameras, that’s 100. This photo was taken at ISO 12800 and the only reason you don’t see lots of crackling (noise) is because of the magic of software called Topaz Photo AI. A previous ISO 100 image took a whole 1 second to make a photo. This robin photo was 1/160 of a second. He wasn’t going to hang around long!


Apertureƒ/11
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length240mm
ISO65535
Shutter speed1/160s

Categories
Photos

Robin Calling

Robin Calling

A robin calling out in the grounds of Blarney Castle today.


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length600mm
ISO320
Shutter speed1/500s

Categories
Photos

Little Robin on the Wall

Little Robin on the Wall

A robin on my garden wall in December 2020.


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length240mm
ISO640
Shutter speed1/400s

Categories
Cork Ireland Photos

My Robin Friend

My Robin Friend

A little robin in the grounds of Blarney Castle.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 240mm
ISO 500
Shutter speed 1/250s
Categories
Cork Ireland Photos

Little robin in the bush

Little robin in the bush

A tiny robin in one of the bushes behind Blarney Castle today. A curious fellow how flitted between grass and bushes.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 240mm
ISO 4000
Shutter speed 1/250s
Categories
Cork Ireland Photography Photos

A Robin in the Garden

A Robin in the Garden

I don’t often see robins in the garden but this guy visited us about a month ago.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 240mm
ISO 2500
Shutter speed 1/400s