Thanks for the critiques. Being away from art for so long I've forgotten all about composition...duh...My mind is coming back to the first lesson when we'd draw thumbnail sketches to set up the composition in a class.

Picture 2. I think I initially liked because of the huge contrast difference between the shadows and the whites, but after doing more reading about histograms and other items on this forum I'm starting to like Picture 2 less.

Picture 3. I uploaded as is, and the thought did come to mind about cropping after seeing that photo in the podcast of the guys hands up and he was off to the right. It is much more stunning of a picture, than dead center. I just wasn't sure where to crop it, but I like the bud and the flower story.

As for sharpness, I've noticed a lot of my snapshots are focused but not dead sharp. There might be a setting that's softening the image. I'm using a Fuji 3100. It's lower end equipment for now, but with your help it'll give me time to work on some of my other skills before getting a better set of equipment.

Again I appreciate every comment. I'm seeing the pictures from your eyes, and now that I look at tons of other pictures I've snapped, I'm being more critical, and I'm noticing I'm discarding a lot of pictures that I may have kept before.

Cheers,
Svenny