Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by scottwilson:
I find the partial view of the flower on the left side keeps pulling my focus away from the main flower.

Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by Tallbloke:
Lacks crispness of focus and sorry, but, a HORRIBLE border.

Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by Tranquil:
There is nothing so striking about this image...i also do not like the border very much.

Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by melismatica:
That pink, thin border within the image plane is really distracting. The image itself is rather poor in terms of technical quality. The bud is very overexposed, washing out all the details that make close-ups of flowers beautiful; the texture of the petals (you need to almost be able to 'feel' the silkiness of the petals), the translucent color from light shining through the petals, the subtle variations in color (in this case from deep pink to nearly white), and the separateness of the individual petals in relation to the overal form of the flower. In this instance, the bud is so overexposed that the petals blend into each other nearly invisibly creating a blob of white, losing all the qualities I just mentioned.
In terms of composition, you need to get much closer to such a small, delicate flower, isolating it from a visually overwhelming background. The overexposure was likely due to your camera's meter adjusting for the dark background rather than the pale bud. Tighter framing will help in this case also. If your camera allows for manual shutter speed or aperature settings, you can try using a large aperature with a fast shutter speed (the large aperature to create shallow depth of field, the fast shutter speed to make up for the extra light that the larger aperature will let in).

Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by Wes:
I don't cair for hte inner border too much, otherwise not a bad shot.

Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by justine:
I think the best advise here is to tell you to look for the best bloom of the bunch and be sure there aren't any dark (rust) areas that would distract from the flower. Also the flower on the right is a distraction to the shot, pulling the eye from your main subject.

Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by scrum8:
A little soft on the focus. I would have tried cropping out the flower on the right edge.

Magnolia
by michael_p

Comment by vtruan:
to me the cropping is boring. A closer look at the flower head on the left would have helped. the flower on the right messes it up

Ave' a Proper Gander at this !
by michael_p

Comment by GeneralE:
It's a good thing titles aren't copyrightable ... I may have to borrow your's.

Ave' a Proper Gander at this !
by michael_p

Comment by TerrieP:
I'm new here and I may have this totally wrong but was the challenge to create a propagand photo or take a photo of propaganda?