Stills

This does not give me a restful feeling either, although I think the exposure is excellent. The composition needs more leaves or less branch, or both of the above. The out of focus background color is really wonderful, creates more space & depth within the photograph.
 

"I love the color" -- Me, too. The fruit (green peaches or apricots?) comes across beautifully -- very dimensional, in front of that soft, ethereal background.

I agree that the composition is not quite working, and my thoughts are similar to Doug and Matt as to why.
 

Like tennis balls! I rather like the challenge of the composition and the way it bucks convention. The soft plane of the backdrop and subtle transitions of colour invite such a minimalist foreground object. And if that is outside your window then that is what we see!!
 

I've no problems with the composition. In fact I rather like it. The colour change in the background is in exactly the right place to create an internal boundary and to stop my eye wandering out of frame to the left along the stem and leaves.

I agree that this isn't a restful composition, but I do find it engaging.
 

I have an apricot tree outside my kithcen window which is totally bare sonce it is winter here.
Looking forward to the fruit, I feeling reaching out and touching the soft fuzz on them.
 

The leaves in focus on the left are the distraction for me. The twig is slightly OoF whereas the fruit is sharp but as my eye travels the twig I reach a leaf which is sharp.

The background should be on mail order.
 

In light of Colin's comment about the color in the background, I retract my unbalanced comment. I was too distracted by the branch to notice how nicely that bit of pink tinged background filled in the negative space.
 

To all who commented on the colors in the background - I wish I could take some credit for that, but I was so intent on getting a viewpoint that would allow me to throw everything but the apricots out of focus (then there is that one pesky leaf) that I didn't know just what colors I would get. When I saw it on screen, the background was a pleasant surprise.

Rex - it's likely I could only get that background again, provided it were available by mail order.

Doug and Colin - I thought about cropping for less branch (no leaves), but that meant I was left without that green on the left side that I hoped would keep the eye in the image. I wasn't really clear about my thought process until Colin's comment. I just knew that while I liked the "idea" of cropping out the leaves, since they were too far from the fruit to feel properly connected, it didn't seem to work. Now, I have a much better sense of why.

John, Colin and Matt - I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one who somewhat liked the composition.

Matt - Whew! Thank goodness for Colin's comment. Seriously, that is a fascinating thing isn't it that we "see" an image, but then on second viewing, especially after some event or another, we "see" it differently? I was all over the place with my reactions to the shot, and finally gave in to it largely, I suppose, because of that surprising and delicious background.

Robert - these apricots were delicious as usual, I know why you are looking forward to spring. I will long for my fruit trees next year.
 

It doesn't sit quite right with me either. Not that that is a bad thing as it does force you to look closely at a very sparse scene which has some very subtle tones. It creates tension but at the same time self-soothes - if that means anything!