Western North Carolina near Asheville

You would be amazed at the images you can get it you simply carried a small tripod along with you into the woods. That's what this image needed,--a stable platform so that you could stop down the lens so as to get more in focus. Right now as it is, there is no central focus (it's higher up nearer the framing green leaves than on the primary subject, which I'm assuming to be the bright yellow leaf. From a composition standpoint you should generally avoid putting the primary subject flat in the middle of your shot. Try for a more asthetically pleasing composition where the leaf is near one of the intersections of the 'rule of thirds.' That may be a good start for you.