I went outside to take pictures of the sunset, but I was too late so I took some pictures of flowers in the garden instead. Criticize my photos please.
Argyle409,
When posting for CC it's best to put some space between your shots and number them. It's easier for people to reply and reference their comments. I throw my EXIF info above each one as well so people don't have to look it up.
With that said, focus looks good and your backgrounds are nicely blurred which seems to be something people on this site have advised is a good thing. Beyond that, I can't help with the technical aspects yet since I'm too new. But personal opinions...(you know what they say about those) I can say I like #4, the peony bud without the flower in front of it. I think the ones that do have another flower in front are distracting from the subject. Keep up the good work.
I agree that centered is really hard to pull off. Tightly closed buds of the peony are a little uninteresting, unless the DOF is really shallow and something is going on in the background. Maybe a bud a little more open (without the ant, I hate ants unless it's a picture of an ant) like in #4 in front of the leaves in #1, with no grass showing. I hope I'm not being too rude.