Buttercup

[amolitor]

.

[petermfiore]

I feel this screams for color.

Peter

[wolfnowl]

I agree.  There's not enough in the composition to make it interesting.

Mike.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I feel this screams for color.

Peter

Keen as I generally am on b&w, I agree. The flower doesn't stand out without it.

Jeremy

[RSL]

I feel this screams for color.

Peter

Yes!

[amolitor]

I have to say, it is completely hideous in color. The wood is orange, the flower is yellow. It's just ghastly. If the wood was silver, it would probably be quite nice. But, it's not.

Thanks for the comments and I don't mean to shut them down with this remark, just putting it out there that no color version will be forthcoming

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Then I would try darkening the orange wood and lightening the yellow flower so that they separate more.

[Tony Jay]

Andrew I think the consensus is right.
Maybe some post-processing creativity is in order here.

Tony Jay

[amolitor]

I never disagree with the consensus. By posting something for critique I am specifically asking for exactly that!

It's clear that there's not enough separation between the flower and the wood, I'm either going to see if I can do something about that, or dump it. Color doesn't work for me here, but there are some other things I can try.

Again, thanks everyone. Valuable input, as always. You guys are 100% reliable.

[Bruce Cox]

I never disagree with the consensus. By posting something for critique I am specifically asking for exactly that!

It's clear that there's not enough separation between the flower and the wood, I'm either going to see if I can do something about that, or dump it. Color doesn't work for me here, but there are some other things I can try.

Again, thanks everyone. Valuable input, as always. You guys are 100% reliable.

I'm not 100% reliable, nor part of this consensus.  I'm not worried about the flower; you have shown it well and it can take care of itself.  The carved wood is the main figure.  The black shadows are the ground.  You might try blackening the triangle in the bottom lift corner.

[amolitor]

What an interesting idea. The black triangle UPPER left has been bothering me, but I need it for the black area lower right. Blacking the lower left feels like just the right thing to fill it in.

I have a version now with the flower dodged up and the wood pushed pushed down. If you looked at one version today and the other tomorrow you might not be able to tell them apart, but side by side it's obvious. I think the overall picture is improved.