Keep It Clean Would Ya?

Well, I learned something about macro photography tonight. If what your shooting is smooth and highly reflective, make sure you clean it first. Every little piece of dust, fibre and whatever shows up quite glaringly and you may not see it till you've done all your shooting and put it on the computer. I was trying to figure out how to get some shots of a chunk of amethyst crystals. Once I thought I had what I wanted, went to the computer and found a very dirty stone. So needless to say that is a project for another day. 
In the meantime. 

I remember taking this quite well. We were at Minter Gardens out all day taking photo's of flowers outside. Towards the end of our visit we wandered in to the flower shop. One of the staff was watering the plants and I happened upon this. I put on my 100mm macro lens and looked straight down. The iso was set at 400 and shot at 1/80th sec f8. I don't have a clue what the flower was, it was all about the colours in this one. 

Ps: My friend Nicola advised me this is a Gerbera flower. I was even able to find a photo of a similar one on the internet.