frosted

Canon 40D
Tamron 17-50mm at 50mm
1/250"
f10
ISO 400
EC +1
large crop

what do you think? I'm beginning to think the background is too bright.

I like the backlighting Cheryl. The frost does look a bit hot but as it covers only small areas I don't mind so much. You could change the look entirely with different processing using the Exposure, Recover and Fill light sliders in ACR. My first impression was that the image was a bit over-sharpened but I wonder if this is a product of the high contrast in the image. I would consider nipping a little off the bottom.

HI Cheryl...Like your composition and the bg is handled well. Agree with crop from bottom......You might try a different white balance to give a colder look

I totally agree with John's critique but would also add that you might try to evict that dark area at the top center of the bud. Did this with a wide angle did you? Very creative and nice diagonal line going through the frame!

thanks, everyone for your critiques and help.
Julie, Yes, wide angle lens, but not because I was being creative. I only had two lenses at the time, and it was the one that was on the camera. lol sorry. wish I was "creative".