Spring Flowers

I took all of these shots yesterday after clouds had moved in. I find that a slightly overcast day is best for shooting flowers. The blue tones resonate through and sublte colors are not washed out by the sun. These are all flowers in my gardens. Top left to right, clockwise are Johnny Jump Ups, Shooting Stars, a foliage-only show of thyme, Lady's Mantle, ajuga and Midnight Reiter geranium, buds of Oriental poppies, another Johnny Jump Up with Kenilworth Ivy and Corydalis lutea. The combos are random and seeded themselves that way. Sometimes, those are the combinations I like the most. I hope you find them as lovely as I do.
  For the photographers in the room, I shot these all with my Canon 50D with a Canon 100-400mm telephoto zoom lens, hand held. It does have image stabilization, but those of you into photography 'technology' will recognize that this breaks most of the rules for this kind of photo. This kind of work is usually done with a much shorter lens with a wider angle and on a tripod.