I would change the kitchen towel for A4 photocopy paper as it would be less distracting. Overall, your exposure of the laburnum pens doesn't look horrific and with ever so slight adjustment you could enhance the entire image. What are you using for a light source? The shadows are a bit to much, but shadow is your friend it adds depth to your image, you just need to soften and reduce them, there are several techniques I use, but they may be no good to you depending on your light source and what you have available. I would start by changing the paper towel and keep everything else the same, you don't really want to do it all in one jump unless you want to go the whole hog and get a setup.
Peter
