Stellar feedback on smoke

As they have been so well received am gonna work on some old and new smoke images, but...
I still need some guidance on background colors. The subject here could loosely be described
as a red leaf with various colored backgrounds.

Does anyone have a favorite, or...might there be a better choice?

IMAGE LINK: http://s329.photobucke​t.com …a/rainbow%20lea​f.jpg.html

Benitoite wrote in post #17849291

Haha

Wait a minute. I thought Andy Warhol was dead. No, seriously. I always prefer these smoke trails on a dark background. Usually black. But that's just me. I think they all work to some degree.

Low key or high key, and IMO, either black or white.

Alan

When I finish with them they don't much resemble smoke trails and the finished product averages 30"x30" if printed.
That would seem to be a large print with a black background. Would not a pastel be more appropriate?

IMAGE LINK: http://s329.photobucke​t.com …-negative-copy11.jpg.html

the only one that looks even remotely like smoke is the first one. This is due to the fact that the semi transparent areas within the smoke blob are similar in color to the color around the smoke blob. Every one of the rest look out of place, except maybe the brown one on the bottom.

you should work on composting layers in Photoshop to achieve a more realistic look.

Black background for me.