I think that Peter pretty much nailed it w/ his comments. It's a pleasing photo to the eye but could be a bit clearer and I think you could crop some of the background and still end up w/ nice photo. Keep experimenting!! Regardless of everything else it's still a very pretty photo!
Wonderful Hibiscus Photograph Todd, Great Colors. Interesting background, but too much is lost in the shadows. Need to try to move around to get better lighting. Or if you use a flash you can reduce the power of the flash and/or reduce the exposure setting to defuse the brightness of the flash to get a better lit shot. Here's an example of a flash shot with Exposure Bias: F/0.5 (-2.00) http://www.usefilm.com/image/646345.html With digital cameras shooting is cheap (no film cost) so take several shots with different settings. I have same manual presets for conditions I shoot regular, like I shoot alot of shots in the morning before going to work (roses) and get a very nice effect with this light...