About the Image(s)

The University of California, Santa Cruz Arboretum provides a large variety of plants from around the world. The one that seems most attractive to hummingbirds is the African blood lily, which blooms in late April/early May. There you will find both Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds chasing between the blooms, competing with bumblebees for the plants’ nectar. As the birds zoomed between the blossoms, they flared their gorgets in brilliant displays to warn competitors. Despite their small size, hummingbirds might be the most aggressive avian species. I chose this image for its color and bokeh.



Nikon Z9, Nikon Z 70??“200mm f/2.8, c/f 300mm, 1/3200 sec @f2.8, +2.33 EV, ISO 1250, spot metering



Because these blood lily bushes are pretty large, I had to crop in to extend my 200 mm lens. I was playing around, trying to isolate the birds with a narrow aperture, high shutter speed, and spot metering. It made the shooting somewhat challenging. I increased the size of the original image and reduced noise in Topaz Photo AI. When I brought it back into Lightroom Classic, I reduced the sharpening Topaz applied and used masking to boost the colors in the lily slightly. In the basic panel, I did some slight adjustments to highlights and shadows. I did minor adjustments in the color mixer panel. I slightly adjusted the mid-tones and added a slight negative vignette.