[slowpez]

Help me out with some C&C on this pic. Did minor USM in Elements and that was about it. Thanks in advance.

Nice composition Susan and beautiful colours in the background (looks a bit noisy though). Focus seems a little soft but a little PP work could give it an impressionist painting look.

[Ash]

Susan, nice attempt - you achieved good space between the flowers and the background foliage to produce a fine bokeh, but indeed the image is pixelated and as such the clarity is greatly reduced. Be careful of your JPEG compressions.

As for the image content, the composition is OK but not outstanding. In these closeups there should be one, two or perhaps three flowers in sharp focus as the subjects arranged in an interesting manner to strike interest. Here this is not clear and leaves the eye to wander around looking for a subject to hone into. The flowers are also not sharp and the lighting quality harsh and from the back, making it hard to appreciate the beauty of the flowers.

Backlit nature shots are creatively used, but in this instance, it would have suited better as a front or obliquely lit scene. Keep at it and consider different angles to capture the beauty and essence of your subject matter.

[slowpez]

Gary and Ash, thanks again for your help and input. Still lots of work to do learning this photography thing but it is coming together thanks to all the great help the forum provides. I don't spend enough time working on the photo BEFORE taking it and I'm really trying to correct that now and that is one of the problems with lots of photos from our western trip. Ash, had I done more thinking I may have realized the things you mentioned.
Thanks again guys, Susan