BB, I don't know what you mean when you say "2 petals over 1," maybe because I'm new to daylilies. Those 2 photos you posted look the same to me, at least in thumbnail, other than being from different angles. Can you help an ignorant DL newbie understand your point?
Now, I'm new to DLs, but NOT to photography and cameras. Here are my thoughts, and they apply whether you're taking pics of flowers, landscapes, people, pets, whatever. This pretty much stream of consciousness, and the overall theme of my comments is that it's NOT the camera that takes good pics, it's the photographer who knows what he/she is doing and uses the tool (camera) to its best advantage. I can use a screwdriver to pound in a nail, but it's not using the tool to its best advantage.
If you're doing flower photos and your camera has a macro setting, USE IT. You want to be as close to the flower as you can get and still have good focus.
Sometimes cameras have multiple flash settings -- if there's one for "fill flash," that's good to use when it's just slightly too dark for a good photo. Fill flash isn't a full on bright flash, it just brightens up the center of the photo. Same setting should be used when taking backlit photos - -i.e., a person sitting in a window that the sun is streaming in. You'll wind up with a silhouette without fill flash.
Don't worry about what kind of camera you have -- focus on learning the fundamentals of photo composition: light, distance, angle, rules of three, etc. Rather than reading instruction manuals about the tool you're using, look for books about "the artist's eye" or Kodak's ubiquitous "how to make/take great pictures." Once you master the techniques, you can use ANY tool -- I've gotten awesome pics with disposable digicams and cell phones because I follow the fundamentals. My mom would spend $300 on cameras (in the 90s), and still have pictures where the people either had no heads or no feet (sometimes both).
If you follow the standard rules of good picture-making, then cropping/crisping/lightening are almost unnecessary.
If the picture is out of focus/blurry, TOSS IT, don't share it. Only reason to keep a bad pic in the digital age is if it's the only pic you have of that particular subject. Once you have a better pic, dump the bad one.
If there's a lot of WHITE in the photo, don't make it the primary focus. Same thing if there's a lot of dark. The auto-focus/auto-adjust feature of the camera will either make the picture too light or too dark. Dark photos CAN be lightened with software, but pics that are too bright might as well be tossed. Once you've blown out the highlights, it's almost impossible to get any detail back.
Easiest way to do the above is to focus the camera on foliage, for example, half-press the shutter until it focuses, then without release or pressing the shutter, shift the camera so the bloom is the primary view. Finish pressing the shutter - the color adjustment will be based on the foliage, not the bloom.
Be aware that auto-focus cameras have their own ideas of what you're trying to take pics of. I thought I was taking pics of the redbud blooms on my tree, and wound up with blurry blooms and the neighbor's house in the distance was perfectly focused. Again, TOSS BLURRY PICTURES. With digicams, it's easy to try again.
In keeping with the previous thought, always check the surroundings of what you're photographing. The plant might be beautiful, but what about the compost pile in the background, or the trash bins set out for pickup? Zoom as close to the subject as you can, or physically move as close as you can. Put a piece of cardboard/posterboard/paper behind it to block other distractions, if necessary. (neutral colors or whites are best for that, btw)
Most cameras today have multiple "scene" modes as well as macro modes. Go back to your manual and learn what modes your camera has, and play with them to see if one of them is best for you, besides the macro one.
While it's true that most folks take pics in the morning, especially of DLs, be aware the morning light is "cooler," and evening light is "warmer." So sometimes evening might be better, depending on what you're photographing. One of my cameras actually has an option to change the color to warmer or cooler, as well as sepia and black/white. That might come in handy if you do wind up taking pics in mid-day, when the light is bright and harsh.
Good picture taking is a 2-part process: step 1 is take the best picture you can, step 2 is process it the best you can before sharing it with the world. There are lots of free software programs online to process photos, and everyone has a favorite. Whether you use a free one or a non-free one, LEARN IT. Read the help section, buy a dummies book for it, scour you-tube for videos about it, whatever it takes for you to be able to learn. Talk to others who use the same program, or who have photos that you admire, and find out what they did that's different from what you do. More than half the time, the difference will be in the picture-taking, not the processing. That's just my opinion with no data to back it up, but I've been playing with cameras and studying photography (on my own, not formally) for almost half my life, and that's been my experience.
Whenever possible, avoid using flash (yeah, that contradicts what I said earlier about fill-flash, but hear me out). Natural light is BEST. If the natural light isn't bright enough, try to find another way to put light on the subject, without shining said light *directly* onto the subject.
