My first shot here

[Moglex]

A bit chocolate boxy but I'd like opinions of brightness and contrast.

 

[bethanyb]

Well, the entire thing looks about a stop underexposed to me. The image also looks a bit blue, but that could just be exposure as well. I'd try to brighten it, but watch the saturation on the reds when you do, since they'll get out of control very easily, and turn into blocks of saturated color where you can't see any detail. If that happens, play with the Hue/Saturation sliders for red, and use layer masks to get things back under control.

 

[Moglex]

I actually darkend the image by about a stop because it seemed too bright to me which was why I was particularly interested in opinions on brightness and contrast (which I also increased a little).

So thanks for the comments - they were exactly what I wanted.

 

[LaFoto]

What a pity that this rose is already beginning to wilt...

But why must everything always be perfect? Maybe you chose an already wilting flower for a purpose. If so, though, you should have included its entire bottom part into your frame, too, I think.

But with a wilting flower I can no longer see the chocolate box effect...