[photogirl]

Here are some flowers I took in the backyard. Let me know what you think.

[Dabhand16]

I think that while you have got good differential focus that isolates the subject from the background, the depth of field looks a bit shallow as there are some elements in the subject that are out of focus.

From a composition point of view, there is a gap in between the two stems that are in focus, thus dividing attention. The background is busy and the large light area draws the eye.

Could you have moved sideways a bit to eliminate the gap between the stems and maybe got a more even background? Scrolling the picture down so that the browser window cuts off the light area improves the image, even if part of the main stems are now out of the frame!

[Rob Barron]

I agree entirely with Graham, the main problem here is the brightness of the light area in the BG as this is making the main subject (the flower heads) darker than they would otherwise be. Either rotating yourself to the right so you moved the bright area away or upwards so that you were looking downwards slightly would have helped though I can see why you were wanting to put the heads higher and use differential focusing to set them forward from the BG. A slightly stronger depth of field, maybe by moving yoursel a little further back from the flower heads, would improve that side of things.

Good effort here, plenty for you to think about but every reason to believe your next version will be improved

Cheers,
Rob