"Purple Floral"

This is so cool Becky!! These flowers almost look like like those sea anemones(sp)

[b]Composition:[/b] This is difficult really. It's always difficult to critique someone's composition. The reason? Because the photographer would not have taken the photo with the composition they did, if they didn't believe this looked best to them. The worst thing about composition is that it's really in the eye of the beholder. Photographic cliche is really what has shaped what is and isn't acceptable composition. The best guidline for this is the rule-of-thirds which I'm sure you are familiar with. And which you know you didn't observe. Personally I don't like the thirds, but I do like it almost thirds. I hope you understand what I mean. This isn't really close to being thirds, not even enough to satisfy me. Always try to remember that rule though, because it IS what causes us (the ones viewing) to recognize what is a professional photo, and what isn't. [b]Creativity:[/b] Nothing really creative here, other than the fact that the subject is strange. [b]Subject:[/b] To be honest, I don't like flower photos. I don't like critiqing them. But let us assume that you and I are trying to get a good photo of this flower for a magazine article. [b]Technical:[/b] By your comments, it seems that you didn't really pick the perfect weather, lighting and background to photograph this flower. So I'll forgive the fact that it should have been exposed a little better. If weather is not cooperating, invest in an off-camera flash and diffuser. Believe me you will fall in love with it's convenience and results. As far as depth of field is concerned, I wouldn't have shot this so shallow. The reason is that the flower itself becomes part of the background (blurred) and takes away from the effect of the blue flower against a green background. If most of the flower and those wonderful petals were in focus against the green, it would really make this flower pop out and slap you! [b]Image Quality:[/b] Compression is not a problem at all here, you obviously saved as a high quality jped. I would have expected to see more compression sickness in the green background, but it's not there. Gratz. This image could really use some sharpening. When images are posted to the web or resized, they inherently loose some sharpness.