I've made a chart of all the details of the three 'identical' photos to see if I can understand why one is better than the other.
#1 is completely out of focus and less than 1MB
#2 does the pods well - 2 of them in particular look sharp - but they don't seem to be on the same plane
#3 taken at 50mpx can certainly be zoomed in on better
BUT if the point of the picture is the poppy, it has failed
I feel as though I'm going to have to stand further back, to attempt more depth of field, but ... then I won't fill the frame. I shouldn't have to crop in all the time PP. (Nor, except in special circumstances go into Pro mode for EV ISO and WB.)
It is difficult to get so much into focus when the heights of the components are so different, so they are all on a different focal plane. You could try filling the frame with just the elements that are on a similar focal plane?
