What a great opportunity and an excellent portrait. Have no worries re the bg. He's not in front of the really "busy" areas and I think the tones match well with the Paisley Pattern in his cravat!

Ann

To me the problem in an otherwise well captured image is that the long black gloves against the black dress leave her looking as though she has only upper arms. Had to look Large to really make out the gloves, but still find that a bit off-putting. Sorry, Jools, if that's me being too critical, but I do think leaving the arms and hands uncovered would have looked better.

Ann

This certainly is different for you and well done stepping out of the zone! Really like the abstract effect - glad you said what it was as that's not obvious in the image, but that's not important anyway. The light and glowing colours are beautiful. Agree with Colin (colmar) in that I think it would work even better without the 2 red bits at the top and given a square crop. Worthy then of hanging on the wall!

Ann

The flower is stunning. Just think the frame a little too much in competition with it! I'd have tried a finer pixel setting, maybe 5 pxl or even white to keep the eye on the flower itself. Hope you don't mind. I got a similar comment 2 days ago and knew it was right!

Ann

The main flower is well presented & a lovely colour but just a little soft on focus. I think you'd improve this image a lot if you used a clone tool in PS to get rid of the little bits of other flowers which distract from what ought to be the main focus for the eye, though it might be interesting leaving in the fern on the RH side and seeing if this works rather than cropping or cloning it immediately.

I've never tried doing a Mod on the site. Might give it a shot!

Ann

Low light would be when it's getting darker towords evening or under a canopy of trees, which it would be in this case. The camera, being a point and shoot, is going to struggle to focus without more light. I think there's a lack of something to really focus on, other than the lower steps. Perhaps from behind a clump of that wonderful wild garlic would have done the trick, as I love the way the steps disappear into the distance, but am not 100% taken with focusing on just a step in the foreground. Hope this is OK with you as I am all too aware that helpful comments can read as horrid criticism - been ther & done that!!