Sage

No manipulation of this photo... Used a standard Canon 18-55 lense.

Tell me what you think and what I can do for better photos. Please!

Here are some thoughts. The sage is the subject of this photo, yet the background takes up most of the space. Now this can be OK if you are trying to communicate something with the background. But in this case I don't think that's what's going on. Your eyes focused in on the subject and you lost sight of the background. We all do it in the beginning. We have to learn to see the world the way our camera sees the world. Be aware of everything in the viewfinder and place the subject where it means the most to you or where it will generate the most interest for the viewer of the photograph (which, by the way, is usually not smack dab in the middle of the frame). If the background is not significant, get closer or zoom in to the subject to exclude the unnecessary portions of the background. Adjust depth of field to take it out of focus. The background is out of focus in this image, but there is still too much high contrast area in the upper left that distracts from the subject. This can be corrected on this image by cropping and adding more blur. Here is one such example...

Thank you for the advice. Your point is very well taken and the example is even better. The way you cropped and enlarged it really brings out the flower and highlights the the colors inside of it. Thanks again!