Hello from the Critique Club,
First, welcome to DPC and congratulations on your first 5+ score. For the image you selected to enter, there isn't a whole lot I can suggest for improvement. My first impression of this image was "Where am I supposed to look?" With the very shallow depth of view of this macro, the part that is in sharp focus needs to be a strong focal point. However, in your image the sharpest focus area is also one of the darkest areas in the center of the orchid. Since the viewer's eyes naturally look at the brighter areas of the image first, the focal point being dark makes it tough to grab the viewer's attention and hold it. You might have been able to mask for the center and tweaked it a bit with levels or curves but it wouldn't have raised your score that much.
If you want to try to re-shoot this image, I would suggest trying to get more light into the orchid. You could use a reflector (crumpled aluminum foil taped to something stiff would work or white poster board), a flash, or a secondary light of some type. I would also suggest you look at everything in the composition and remove anything that doesn't add to the image (the greenery on the left side of the image for example).
As you improve upon your photography skills, you will need to find a more creative approach to subjects like this orchid. The voters at DPC are pretty selective group when it comes to giving scores in the 6+ range and higher. If you don't capture their imagination, they will look at your image for 2-3 seconds, hit the five-button and move on.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique.
Tim
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