looking at you!

[stuart wanuck]

nikon d 300 iso 400 sigma 150 mm apo lens F 8 at 125

[Ed Vatza]

Beautiful flower. Nice dof and sharpness here. I only wish the background was smoother more like the UL corner.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Stuart, I agree with Ed it would look nice with the solid color as in the ULC, but I think it has a somewhat interesting look with the BG as is. Good details on the flower and I would clone out the white hot spot on the front.

[Julie Kenward]

Hey Stuart...I read what Mike and Ed were saying and thought you could still pull this off. I put the image into Photoshop and selected just the BG. I did a slight gaussian blur (3 pixels) and then brought down the midtones using levels. That pulled the orchid away from the plant in the BG a bit more. I then did a curves adjustment making the contrast stronger so it popped the flower against the BG even more. I finished by cloning out the hot spot on the front of the flower as Mike suggested.

It's just another way to go...thought it would be worth playing with it just to show you how you can calm down a busy BG but still keep it in the frame so the flower takes center stage.