Firecracker Plant 2

We had lots of wildflowers, but also bought a bag of seeds for

indigenous wildflowers. These from that effort. A nice cheerful

addition. C&C appreciated!

Hi Sandy. Great colours so rich and full of life, but I'm not a big fan of shallow depth of field and just think there is too much out of focus, just my humble opinion. I see you shot at f/8, was the wind moving the flowers ? if so perhaps a faster shutter required ?. Just my opinion Sandy, I'm sure lots will disagree with me and love your image. Best regards Ken. 

Unlike Ken, I am a big fan of shallow depth of field in macro and in botanical studies in particular. In this instance the shallow depth of field does not work, more because of its placement rather than its shallowness. The plane of focus runs horizontally throught the flowers 2/3rds of the way up the frame. This placement of focus works against any attempt you may have been going for in terms of composition. The composition itself seems awkward.

Much of the red in the image is blown out with no detail. The red channel has been over-exposed and needs to be corrected in post.

Often whether or not a photograph succeeds is about intent. This photo seems to be about walking up to a flower, pointing a camera at it, pressing the shutter and walking away. On that level it succeeds, if it was intended as more than that, it needed more time and consideration. Only you know what you were after when taking the photo.