Nice, Sandy. I find myself wanting to focus on the main blossom and the out of focus blossoms behind it and the one leaf beneath it keeps getting in the way. I could see this cropped to the upper 2/3 of the frame and that leaf removed.
Wow! I really love the intense oranges and peach colors in this Sandy. The pale green stem and leaves really help balance the overall color palette for me. I could see maybe blurring the leaf @Dennis_Plank is referring to to reduce the attention it is demanding as an alternative to cropping it out.
Poppies are so frustrating to photograph – they are rarely in visually simple locations and their intense color is a challenge. For me, the bottom third is not contributing enough and the oranges are suffering from tonal separation issues. The clue is in the histogram (with the image converted to my working space in order for it to be accurate):
I’m not struggling with this as much as some of the above comments Sandy; I really like it. For me, there is a natural transition from very blurred distant background, to less blurred closer, and finally the tack sharp bloom that is the star. The placement of that main bloom is a great example of the Rule of Thirds working for you. I also like the dominance of orange with green contrast. Overall it has a “dreamy orange” vibe that I find very pleasing.
