Snake's head fritillary

[Jonathan Ashton]

Tripod Canon 7D Canon 180mm macro & polarising filter ISO 400 1/640 sec f8
Well spring has sprung and I have a few fritillaries coming into bloom by the garden pond. This one was damaged, I suspect Barney trod on it! I placed it in a small vase and the background is the lawn, pretty much where it was growing.
All C&C welcome.

[Norm Dulak]

Hi Jon.

This is an interesting composition. The background is great, and sharpness is good where it matters. But it seems a little flat to me. I would suggest experimenting with increased contrast and/or saturation.

[Mitch Haimov]

Interesting subject, Jon. I like the texture in the petals. Vertical stem near the edge of the frame the bending across to the right with the bloom hanging down makes an engaging comp. That said, I think the comp would be stronger if your camera position was lower so that the tip of the leaf hanging down was not cut off and the stem was roughly the same distance from left edge and top of frame at the point of the bend. A close up of a petal could also be very interesting.

[Nancy Bell]

This has a sweet understated delicateness and simplicity. I like that everything is green except the pink blossom. I would like to see more length to the stem, so the ratio between the vertical and bent part is more different. As is I would consider cropping a good part of the featureless top away and let the horizontal portion of the stem run along the top edge, putting the blossom at the point where the lines would cross in the upper right using the rule of thirds.

[John Robinson]

Can't decide on this one Jon The bent stem seems unbalanced somehow. I appreciate that,s how it was.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thank you for your comments everyone.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jon. Well, I'm glad spring has sprung - somewhere! We still have 2 feet of snow on the ground. Every time some of it melts, we get more snow to take us back to the starting point! Very nice exposure, sharpness, and background. The single flower in a field of green really gives my eye something to latch onto. There are a number of good comments, above, concerning the comp that you might want to consider. Otherwise, this is very well done!