Please critique my flower

[lonelyjew]

I'm trying to make a series of pictures for my mom's 50th birthday so I'd appreciate any comments or critiques. I'm new to flower photography and I really really want to make these pictures as nice as possible so anything will help.

Does the shallower depth of field work here? Honestly I wanted to shoot at a higher aperture but, on the tripod, I couldn't get back to this composition and the light level was to low to hand hold(I'm not willing to shoot above ISO 400 for these).

http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt18/cplpunishment/mompurple.jpg

Here's another version

http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt18/cplpunishment/mompurple2.jpg

Thanks for viewing and any comments.

[Flo]

The DOF looks like it just missed the mark? The front petal is blurry, perhaps from motion,.

[joedlh]

I like the richer colors of the first one. In images with a black background, I think that one is limited by not being able to take advantage of color contrast, complimentary colors, tonality, saturation, and any number of effects. The subject is there, naked and alone. In this case, I think the parts that are out of focus will become more important. They must be chosen with an artistic intent. The center petal is out of focus. However, being in the center, it is the first to draw the eye. If it were my shot, I would try to de-emphasize that petal by changing the pose, if you will. Or I would do as you suggested: put the camera on a tripod and get everything in focus.

[rjc1]

I think that if the shot is of the "Flower" every thing of the flower should be in focus. It is the subject of interest.

[lonelyjew]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Like I said, I wish I could have shot it at f/11 or higher but I was shooting handheld. The most painful part was trying to get that composition again and not being able to on a tripod. I have reshot it at a different composition at f/11 but I think I'll give it another go today.

[jodelak]

it's nice, but i agree with the others that all parts of flower should be in focus.