So Red!

So red it hurts. Red or Baja Fairy Duster, a native plant of America’s Southwestern Deserts, is certainly red. The more common variety is shades of pink and bit easier on the eye and the camera sensor. This specimen, in full early morning sun at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix Arizona is about as red as anything I have seen in nature. This was taken in wide angle macro mode from centimeters away.

Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent and macro. F4.0 @ 1/200th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.

Sharpen Landscape preset in Lightroom. Added Clarity. I generally add some Vibrance, but not to this shot!

From Desert Botanical Gardens 09.

Here is an alternative view, and one with an Anna’s Hummingbird. The plants attract hummers, especially late in the season when they are one of the few plants blooming. I was just too late to get the bird at a flower…but it is still an interesting image.