flowers Rose and Bud at UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens

Do you like this photo? How could I improve it? Is cutting off

the large rose effective or distracting?

Jeff, I have taken quite a few floral photo's over the years and framing a rose at times is difficult. Personally, I do not like the bud. You can not really identify it as a rose bud. It's too vivid against the white of the rose petal. The rose itself is stunning. Sometimes including a bud works in this case it distracts. Also, a hint the human eye is attracted to a visual of three subject's over two. In general I like the picture, nice.-Michael Joseph Hoard

Jeff, I would crop out the bud as it detracts from the beauty of the white rose. Also, some of the edges of the rose seem a little bleached out. Overall, I like it though. I love nature/flower photography myself, though I notice that such photos rarely get any feedback here. Too bad because even if the shot looks like a cliche, there is still a visual appeal.