Hi Barbara, You are making an impression, on me, with your backgrounds. They are always, as is this one, complimentary to your subjects. You have a good eye for color. I like the composition with the pine cone placed on a diagonal line. Perhaps a smaller aperture would have given sharpness to the entire cone. But.....maybe the graduated sharpness was your intention. Nice image, either way.   Posted: 01/08/2021 13:06:45

Hi Barbara: I do concur with Phyllis's comments. If you want the entire Pine cone in sharp focus you would need to use f/16 aperture or perhaps f/22. I try to avoid using f/22 most of the time as there is an issue called diffraction that tends to soften your entire image somewhat, some lenses are worse than others in this regard. You just need to experiment using f/16 and f/22 and see what you think.
Nice subject.   Posted: 01/11/2021 18:43:31

Murphy's comments are noted and I agree. Also I would like to see a but more definition in the inner part of the cone.
Colors are nice. Remove the line in the background left lower side. Good positioning of the subject.   Posted: 01/18/2021 13:12:26

BARBARA,
I LIKE WHAT YOUR GOING FOR IN THIS IMAGE.
YOUR USE OF THE ANGLE GOING FROM THE RIGHT TO LEFT WORKS AS TO KEEP ME ATTRACTED TO THE IN FOCUS AREA ON THE RIGHT, NOT NOTICING THE BLURRING PORTION SO MUCH.

THE FILTER OR LAYER YOU APPLIED DOESN'T HELP YOUR IMAGE THAT MUCH, AS IT IS OVER THE ENTIRE IMAGE, WHICH IN MY OPINON MAKES IT LOOK NOISY AND NOT SO SHARP,

MAYBE DOING IT AS A LAYER IN P/S AND PUTTING YOUR SUBJECT ON TOP OF YOUR BACKGROUND EFFECT THAT YOU USED. MAY WORK BETTER.   Posted: 01/26/2021 08:17:36

I like the composition of the pine cone on the diagonal. I think I would try to have the whole pine cone in focus and would remove the line on the bottom.   Posted: 01/26/2021 20:09:45