Flowers - Close up

[Overread]

Well its been a little wet recently, but when the skies cleared and the sun showed I went out to practise at flowers, macro mode, flash and manual white balance setting. Thought I was doing well, till I came back and re-read the white balance stuff - turns out that you use a blank white sheet to set it rather than (as I had been doing) taking a shot of the subject, setting the WB on that shot and then using that data for a second shot.
Thankfully I shoot in RAW - the only thing I did notice is that my histograms looked very strange and levels did not like working with them
But aside from that small upset what do people think of the results - where can I do better?
Taken with:
Canon 400D
Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG macro - set to macro mode
Tripod
Timer and mirror lock-up mode

larger
at; f16, 1/6sec, ISO 100

larger
at: f16, 1/13sec, ISO 100

larger
at: f16, 1/20sec, ISO 100

larger
at: f16, 1/4sec, ISO 100

larger
at: f16, 1/4sec, ISO 100

larger
at: f16, 1/2sec, ISO 100
note that the background for this was a pink wall. I also would have liked to have used a smaller apature to bring that upper section more into focus
Thanks

 

[saltface]

#1 doesn't look like the best subject. I'd say trim the bud on the left and reduce your lighting.

#2 is great, don't change anything. I love dew.

#3 just isn't very interesting IMHO.

#4 has lots of dead space, I'd crop it closer.

#5 is like #3.

#6 needs to be cropped and have a different background.

Of course, these are just my opinions.

 

[Dioboleque]

#6 is my fav, and I like the background color...

#2 & #4 are my favs of the flowers...

I'm really not equipt to offer any technical advise, but I do agree that a greater DOF would have helped #6. :sillysmi: