Yes, I would bet the BG was too distracting if you used a 28-70 lens at f10! When I first saw the image I wondered how you got so much detail and such a great BG - you really had me puzzled until the I read the rest of the specs.
For a finished product, I like it. You've got beautiful colors and a really nice DOF (although the second stamen on the right could use a touch more sharpness - you might consider cloning the one tip on the left stamen to the right one if you aren't objective to that sort of thing.)
Next time, try a longer focal length or a specific macro lens and really go for f4-f8 and see if that doesn't give you a better balance between good focal points on the flower and still giving you an acceptable BG.
Thanks for the tips, The reason for f10 is because of the DOF, the flower is about 3-4" wide and I was trying to capture the whole thing in focus and knew the BG would be a problem. Heres the original
Hey Rod, your right the original looks really cluttered. Great DOF on the flowers and love the colors. Since you took the time to replace the BG with another why not go with a more blured background?