Does this work?

[Beth Goffe]

I was taken by the pretty colors on this flower I saw at the Vanderbilt Mansion on the North Shore of Long Island. Now that I've processed the image, I'm not sure if I love the leaf. I appreciate the input!

40D, 17-85mm, 1/200s, f/16, 85mm, ISO 400

[Nick Palmieri]

My opinion is that you have 2 subjects and the eye is wandering from one to the other. I see what you are trying to do and the light on the darker leaf if very nice. Possibly inverting the image so the brighter lily is on the left...or toning down the lily a bit...just my thoughts... Love to see what others have to say.

[Christopher Miller]

I agree with Nick that you have two competing subjects. Personally I would omit the leaf and crop in close on the flower. Would also clone out what I believe is a pine needle hanging down from the flower.

[Julie Kenward]

I'm with Chris on this one. I see two objects pulling my attention and I think the main problem here isn't so much that one overpowers the other but that both are on opposite sides of the frame and nothing is in a ROT's position. Now, you don't ALWAYS have to have something in the ROT's position but when there are two powerful objects and neither is - then the eye just bounces back and forth, back and forth.

If the flower had been in the ROT's position and the leaf had been in the opposite ROT's position I think this might have worked but both are too far to the frame's edge so I vote kill the leaf and go with the flower. And most definitely get rid of all the debris!

[Stuart Frohm]

I enjoy the image as originally presented.
Although I've cropped a bit too much from the top in the attached version, I think I like it a bit better than the original.

[Beth Goffe]

Thanks for all the comments, everyone! I tend to agree with you all. If I were to crop into just the flower, it would be a really large crop which I wanted to avoid. Ah well, I liked the flower. :)

[Brandy Katzen]

Darken and blur out the leaf towards the back edge (and clean off the debris) using a gradient for both processes. I would also darken the brightest parts the flower a bit.

[Desmond Chan]

Darken and blur out the leaf towards the back edge (and clean off the debris) using a gradient for both processes. I would also darken the brightest parts the flower a bit.

That's pretty much would be my suggestion, too. I also applied some "glow" to the flower. That should help reduce the contrast - I found that too much in the original - of the flower. The attached flower is for giving you another idea only. I didn't do any clean up though.

Generally speaking, I think it is ok to have more than one "subjects" in your photo (seen any group photo lately?); it is also ok to get the eyes of the viewer to move around. The thing you could is to guide the viewer's eyes so that they move and see what you want them to see and in what order through the use of color, contrast, brightness and sharpness.

One thing I would like to see though is that the gap between the flower and the leave is not that large. Perhaps if it were taken at a low perspective, it could help.

My $0.02.