Prickly Poppy

Great Shot! I love how you've kept all the details in the white petals and the colorful flower centers. The flies are a nice addition. I think going to the black background works really well here. Although this is really fine as presented, I would be tempted to try dodging the center area of the flower on the left to get a closer match in brightness to the one on the right.

Richard: Great portrait of this pair. I would prefer this without the flys since they're only partial and IMO not particularly photogenic. The rest is good enough that I would think real hard about cloning them away. >=))>

Complete DOF and excellent exposure of the whites, revealing the great "parchment" like texture of the petals.
The dark BG works well for this IMO - Well done!

The dark background makes these POP. For me the flowers can stand alone, wthout the flies.

Richard:
Excellent pair. Love the texture of the white petals and the center bright orange. The dark bg is perfect for this image. Not sure of the flies though. Another alternate presentation is to rotate the image about 30 degree so as to introduce some tension in the frame (should be easy to add canvas with a dark bg).

Richard- Lovely Pair of Prickly Poppies. Lotsa great suggestions already - but this works for me well as presented. I like the vibrant yellow center, crepe like texture on the petals and great exposure for the whites.

Don't think the Flies add much to the frame.