Drooping Thistle + Repost

Ken: Welcome to NPN and to the finest Flora gallery on the planet. This is an excellent first post here and a really nice take on this subject. I like the complementary BG especially. My only tiny 1¢ nits are I would like a tiny bit more room on the right and perhaps a crop from the bottom to 4:5 ratio. Great to have you aboard and looking forward to more. >=))>

Divine BG , love the soft green !! Nicely captured , great detail on the thistle head . Love your DOF choice it really worked well here and carried the focus through to the bud in the back. Nice shot ,and welcome look forward to more of you images !

Welcome to NPN and to the flora gallery, Ken! This is an excellent stack, although I have to admit stacking 20 + images would give me a migraine! I would love to get some EXIF info on your gear. Good solid image, excellent choice of dof, and a nice complementary BG. For the record, I agree with Bill's crop suggestion.

Thanks for the comments and critiques. As it turned out, I must have posted the wrong image! This image attached was the one intended, although I still believe it could use some additional cropping.
As far a gear, this was taken with a Nikon d7000 and Tamron 90mm lens. I use a focusing rail to snap the multiple images using only natural filtered light. Commonly, I also use a wind box (made from clear plexiglass) to block any breeze, which is essential. Other advantages of the wind box is one can tape a background on it or put filter material on top to block direct sunlight. A fellow by the name of Mike Moats provided the info on making this wind box. An instruction video on building it can be seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUhbhXbslW4

Mike also teaches macro photography in many workshops all over the country. It is well worth taking in one of these workshops to hone one's macro skills. His website is quite informative as well.

Very nice image, Ken. Like the way the flower seems to be posing for the camera ! Look forward to seeing more from you.

Wonderful macro image, Ken! I, too, am a fan of Mike Moats and it looks like he taught you well! I've wondered about the wind box but never pursued the idea so it's inspiring to hear of someone who uses it and likes it. I like your second posted image better but feel it still could use some cropping possibly down some from the top? Just my opinion. I like your BG choice and the good detail you have achieved with your 20+ (!?!) stacks.

Welcome to Flora Gallery, Ken . What a nice first post. Thistles are so photogenic and you have done it full justice. I agree with Bill's suggestions and repost is more appealing to me.

Ken: I like the second image. It gives you more cropping space. I still think going to 4:5 is the best move. Also, I edited your title to indicate you had added a second image to the thread. You can do this yourself by clicking on the edit link on the thumbnail page. It lets folks know there is an alternative view to consider. >=))>

Nice arragement. Excellent contrast to green BG. Well done.

Ken:
Welcome to NPN and flora gallery.
A very strong first post. You have taken a lot of trouble to get this image stack and the bg. I see you also like macro and I think you would find yourselves at home in this gallery and the macro gallery which Mike used to be the moderator until recently.

Hi Ken I almost missed this one The repost is better, Love everything about it, great comp. light , detail,, and color
Albert Darmo
Canada