Flowers On A Dismal Day

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Sunday the weather was strange--low dark clouds and threats of rain all day but nothing happened.
The forecasters were wrong as usual but it sure looked like a rainy day.

All I shot were flowers everywhere I went, and since I've been playing with off-camera flash lately I thought I would try it on the various spring blooms I found.
There wasn't enough light to shoot them any other way, especially with the wind.

I rather like the way these look, with dark clouds for a background.
The ambient light was set to -2EV and I moved the flash around (on it's too-short cable) with my free hand.

First is a "valley" lemon tree's sweet-smelling flowers, a big hit with the honeybees who were all over the thousands of blossoms. There's going to be a surplus of fruit this year so stock up on the tequila, since a valley lemon is a cross between an orange and a lime. Sweet!


Next is the Texas State Flower, the Bluebonnet. Obviously it's a lupin.
Last year's drought meant there were but a handful of these in the area. This year there are untold billions in fields and especially along highways where the state has been seeding them for 40+ years.


Many other wildflowers are added to the mix, so there's an ever-changing variety of color as the season progresses. I don't know what this is called, but a splash of yellow is nice amid all the bluebonnets.

2007 will be remembered for the wildflowers this spring.