Daisy

Great shot!  I love the black/white contrast with the hard glow on the edges of the pedals :)

Richard, Nice composition.  The black background works well as does the placement of the flower toward the right and into the top of the image.  I do think you need greater depth of field, so all the petals will be in focus.  Also, the image appears to be over-sharpened.   You can achieve this greater depth of field as long as you are using a tripod - essential for shots like this.   On a tripod, without moving the camera, take four different shots focusing each on a different area of the flower. Then when you process the images in Photoshop, you bring up all four images in separate windows and go to automate in the file menu and choose photo merge.  Click on the button in the center box to merge all the windows that are open.  Then wait while the process occurs.  After it is finished you flatten the image.  You should then have significantly expanded your depth of field.  I learned this from Scott Kelby's book on CS4.  I hope this is helpful.  Best regards.   Larry

Richard,

Great shot! IMVHO, you don't need greater depth of field-- what you have got draws attention beautifully to the back of the flower, which is presumably what you were going for.

Paul

a beautiful flower shot beautifully

Thank you all for the nice comments.  I am aware that you could use a multiple exposure technique to bring the entire flower into focus.  Honestly, I was just out wandering around with my camera and the 105 mm lens looking for interesting shots.  I didn't have my tripod along and it was a bit windy so this was a lucky break as far as the focus is concerned.

The depth of field issue is a matter of taste, I think.  My intent here was to draw the viewer's eye to the interesting pattern at the base of the flower that is backlit by the sun from above.

Dick