Hi Lynne, I like your brave attempt. I don't know enough about focus stacking a super macro to suggest all corrections, therefore I can mainly comment on how I view the image. To me: the petals and the stamen look blurry; there are a lot of distracting highlights; the petals don't seem to have that soft feeling; and I understand your desire for context, the white thorns, which I first thought were daises, keep drawing my eyes from the pollen. The only suggestions I can think of would be: to use a diffuser to further reduce contrast; and before any other processing, apply a noise reduction program.   Posted: 01/12/2021 16:19:08

Lynn, As I understand things, the purpose of DDG is to learn. There is no need to "redeem." BTW I prefer the rose you originally posted, for the same reasons stated by Tom & Larry. That said, to my eyes, your second version here is an improvement. I used Topaz Gigapixel AI to increase the pixel count and avoid banding: I then reduced the contrast a little to bring out more details in the yellow, and made a minor adjustment in levels.
Let us knw what you think.

  Posted: 01/14/2021 16:02:04

I completely love the composition of this photo Lynne, I have some of my flower shots with this composition and I really like them this way. Focus stacking is a difficult technique, especially when you are tying to shoot non static subjects. I am sure you had tough time with this flower too, which might have been moving. You still managed to stack it well. The only think from me to improve this further will be to stack them with less number of frames and by ensuring that you have sufficient sharpness right from the petals till the centre of the flower. However, if your objective is to focus the centre part, 4-5 frames with the right amount of sharpness will be ideal.   Posted: 01/21/2021 13:37:06

What a bold image of this flower and its wonderful detail. A great example of what Macro photography can present to the viewer. A question of intent springs to my mind as I view this image. The size and composition of the bloom suggests that you wish to present the interesting detail within the bloom. If this was your intent, I fear it falls a bit short of this goal. The petals and their tips have wonderful detail, but the central regions of the bloom is rather soft, and somewhat disappointing. I have no issues with the very lowest petals be a bit soft, as this offers a type of framing element, but the interesting center elements are overly soft and lack contrast. I wonder if you had a certain intent in mind, and then settled for what you got rather than what you wished to get. I know that you can do better as you yourself have demonstrated this to the group. This happens to us all, and I battle against this demon in many of my shots. As I become more experienced and accomplished, my standards rise, and I need to restrain from presenting anything but my most successful rendition of my vision.   Posted: 01/21/2021 14:25:17

Hi Lynne,
I love this type of image, and the colors are wonderful. I agree with cropping out the background flowers so that the eye is not distracted. I looked at your black and white rose. It is gorgeous in its tonal quality and softness! - Nancy   Posted: 01/22/2021 10:10:28