Quick "after the rain" shot..

[Spring Chicken]

We just had a thunder/rain storm a little bit ago and I decided to try out getting a flower shot with the raindrops on it..

Does something seem off in it??

 

[Spring Chicken]

Now I am wondering if this makes it look better by taking away some of the background distraction...

 

[LaFoto]

I don't mind any of the background in your first version too much, DOF is set in a way that the flower pops out and the brick wall is nicely enough blurred not to be distracting. However, if it is THE FLOWER, and if you don't care for custom sizes, then I would, indeed, prefer the cropped version to the first. Plus you have corrected the frame size, which does the second photo some good.

Mind you: you have some very beautiful flowers in your garden!!!

 

[pursuer]

Yes, I definatly prefer the tighter crop. Nice shot

 

[Unimaxium]

I like the tighter crop, mostly because I'm not crazy for the brick background in the first. The DOF is very good, but the red color of the background doesn't go well with the flower IMO. If it were something like a green bg, then I think I might like the wider crop better. But I'm knit-picking. Overall both are very good pictures.