Decaying Beauty and Lavender Rose

I’ve been quite busy lately, fortunately not too busy to test the wonderful Canon EF 100/2.8L USM Macro lens. We’ve had a lot of rain so the garden is not offering quite its usual abundance of flowers, but I’ve managed to get a few passable pictures:

Decaying Beauty

and

Lavender Rose

Both are roses, of course, the first being well past its prime, with the petals all wilted and gone. It was taken in available light using just a tripod for support.

The second is a fresh rose with lavender. I place both in a small vase, hung up a black cloth for the background, and used two speedlights for lighting. The first is to camera right, the second is to camera left, behind the flower.