I am not sure what it is about this picture, but the concept and close up idea are fantastic! Perhaps diff. lighting or maybe a portrait or macro mode?
I hope to see something like this again!
The author had a great idea and concept. Unfortunately, the image falls short of the overall idea as the image isn't clean with an odd DOF. It might have helped to back off in focal length to capture more area, then crop out the sharpest area for presentation. The lighting didn't help either producing unattractive light blooms.