Happy Flowers

well I have two questions... Compositionally can this lone flower make a pleasing image? And You pixelheads out there, How big of a print can I get straight out of the camera ( I mean without resizing) with a 40d on SRAW (2.5 megapixels)? Thanks for comments and feedback in advance....

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It is a nice flower. The way that this way taken really leaves no room for cropping or anything and I am not really fond of the composition. It is very centered. Try to apply the rule of thirds and it would be very nice.
As far as the pixel question I have no idea. If print size is an issue for you try to shoot in L and raw. I have heard however that printing has more to do with dpi that mp and someone that really knows what they are doing can print as large as they want, but dont quote me on it.

It`s a nice looking flower... but there is really not much to say about composition... also i think its a little oof.
As for the print sizes, my xti manual tells what the biggest paper size for each image quality... i don`t know about the 40d.

I've seen several central flower shots that were negatively critiqued for being centered. I've seen several central flower shots that received no mention at all for being centered.
Conclusion: If there's no fault to be found with exposure, focus, DOF, etc then the old "too-centralized-in-the-frame' commentary can be mentioned .

It's too often too difficult to apply a rule of composition to an image of a single flower.
Don't anguish over a compositional non-issue and devote your efforts to Sharpness, saturation, shadow detail, blowouts in the highlights, light dynamics and direction, and proper focus.

IMHO, the rule-of thirds is the very least issue to be concerned about with your image and most flower shots in general.

Do you think your shot is soft? Do you think flowers are ok to be on the soft side in general (some photographers do--I do not). What is the issue with your shot that you think would be the least objectionable? What do you think is the most objectionable aspect of your image?

Personally, I think your image is as good as the most that are submitted for critique, not quite as good as the best, and Way better than some.
Cheers