Purple flower in the dark

[JWhattam]

Hey guys, first try at a macro. Found this flower in the garden, thought the colours were really nice. Not really sure how a true macro should look, any tips or thoughts welcome. I think possibly a bit dark?.
Camera Olympus E-420
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/4.2
Focal Length 27 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias +1.7 EV
Flash On, Fired

[stey]

Well, I think you have to elaboate on composition of your macro shot.

Composition has a point of interest and layers. You choose the way to show those with light, depth of field, color, arrangement within a photographed area.

Usually the point of intrest is in focus, it is sharp, while everything else appears blurred. The point of interest may be the most dark or the most light spot on the shot. It may be placed in a compelling way, so that a viewer would come and be led to it with your visual clues, not distracted by unimportant detail.

As for this shot, I can't tell what was the most inportant deatil you wanted to show. Try more ways to emphasize it.

Good luck!

[AdrenoJunkie]

I agree with the above poster. I would have put the focus on the front petal with all the water drops on it then let the rest go blurry. The darkness isn't so bad, it's kind of a natural vignette. Maybe recompose it so that it's not dead center. Like angling your camera so that the front petal starts toward the bottom right leadin to the rest of the flower towards the top left or something like that.