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Thanks Alan

Hi all

Thanks for warm welcome and all the feedback, lots to take away and answer (the initial post was a bit brief as was being done in a break at work):

I uploaded this photo first after finally being able to work through the backlog of images sat on a laptop waiting to be processed (kids eat up far too much time but are only young once!). I've shot lots of different things over the years but always find myself coming back to garden/flower photography and, now that i have a bit more time available, want to take time to grow rather than just point and shooting. I liked this shot but felt it could be better, hence asking for some critique to make sure I'm focussing (pun intended) on the right areas.

With regards to camera and lens this was an old photo, taken a while ago, using my old D80 and a Sigma 70-300 lens (with macro mode). I am now shooting exclusively with the D7100 and have invested in a 60mm macro lens (budget constraints ruled out a 105 or 180 and the one I got is supposedly good for portraits too). The lens itself has a macro mode when at 300mm (with a min focus range of 1m at f5.6) so this is as it was out of the camera, no cropping has taken place. It would have been hand held as, with most of my images from back then, it was taken whilst on a day out with the family so there would not have been time to set up a tripod. I did find out (annoyingly after taking the D80 away to Disneyland only to find all the images were OOF) that the D80 had a back focussing issue which may have contributed to the focal point but accept that this could also have been influenced by a poor choice of ISO and aperture settings.

I appreciate the feedback on the composition as this is probably the one thing I need to put a bit more thought into. A lot of my recent shots (I will upload some in due course) seem to feel very 'samey', not sure if that is just composition or the fact that I haven't worked out my 'style' yet.

I don't know if the link will work but this is a more recent image, shot with the D7100 and macro lens (although no tripod as I was laid in the middle of a wet lawn at RHS Wisley to take it). It was taken in aperture priority mode with the focus (manual) on the middle stamen:

Colchicum

Please excuse it being hosted elsewhere. Part of the reason for coming back to EPZ is that I have found other sites either impossible to get feedback from or, like 500px, ones that you end up with lots of likes but no critique.

Stunning shot.

Having spent the last couple of evenings trying to capture local barn owls in flight I can fully appreciate the skill and patience needed to capture an image as good as this.

Great abstract shot with brilliant symmetry. Would agree that it could look even better without the clouds.

Olly

This is lovely, wonderful composition and well presented.

Olly

For a tenner I'd be well chuffed and it's nice to see its been put to good use, stunning image.

Olly

Amazing warm colours and wonderful movement in the water.

Olly