Brown-eyed Susan II

A different flower, but taken in the same session as the last one.  I liked this side-on view and after playing with exposure and white balance, I left them pretty much as-shot because it was the look I liked best.  When I got it processed, there wasn't much contrast between the stem and sepals and the background, so I tried a couple of alternates with the first brightening the background about .7 and the second darkening it by about 1.  I'd be interested in knowing which people prefer-and why if you can elucidate it.

7Dii, Sigma 150-600 C @ 500 mm, tripod with ballhead and gimbal mount.  Live view with 2 sec time delay.  f/11, 1/250, iso 1250, aperture priority, pattern metering, -1/3 EV.  Processed in LR & PS CC.  Cropped to 9 MP before resizing.  Taken at 6:15 am just as the first of the sun was hitting this patch of flowers (sunrise is an hour earlier, but this patch has trees shielding the first rays this time of year).

Your comments and critiques are greatly appreciated.

1200 pixel images of both other versions can be viewed by clicking on the images.

Thanks,