Critique please - flower

I will appreciate frank comments about this picture.
I was shooting for shallow DOF. Cropping done to the right of the flower.
What else do you find that if done it would improve the picture?
The other plant as well as the flower plant was shot using Aperture Priority to obtain the proper DOF.

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I am not a fan of the first one, maybe because it is a little dark for me, but I love the second one.

The second one looks very familiar - I think I had some of that for lunch in my salad yesterday.

Thank you for the comments. I have a preference for darker pictures than bright ones. I can see some improvements could be made if I bring the light up on the first one.
Bob, if you had this plant (second picture) in your salad for lunch, I would recommend you "crop-chop" it a little more next time, those leaves are too crunchy and could hurt you when eating them.
LOL
Any other suggestions...

gking wrote in post #8617436
Thank you for the comments. I have a preference for darker pictures than bright ones.

i am in the same boat when it comes to slightly underexposed pictures. they are richer in color and easier for me to correct in pp. so, i tend to shoot that way.

however, from looking at other images and what gets good review and what doesnt, i can tell you that i can see underexposure very quickly these days. and, this one qualifies.

it's hard to get the mids and darks lit correctly without blowing the highlights in flowers. maybe next time, in pp, you bring up the mids a little?

as for composition, i feel this is a "tweener." its in between too shallow and too deep for dof. the second flower is in a weird part of the focal plane, imo. i would prefer it be more blurred out or as crisp as the first flower.

take that for what its worth.

Ice Plants have such vivid colors.they need that light to keep them from melting into themselves