Pond

[Kaclarity]

C&C Please JimC

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Jim,

EXIF data: Sony SLT-A55V and 85mm, 1/500s, f/10, iso 800, Auto exposure using Aperture Priority, no Exposure Compensation (EC), White Balance: Manual - Daylight.
Software used; Photogene for iPad v3.4

I can see quite a few issues with this, but don't want to appear overly negative, so I'll try to temper that with the 'why and how'.

When shooting any highly coloured subject such as these blooms, it is crucial not to over expose, it destroys detail - unfortunately, this is, I would have used at least one stop -EC on a scene like this for a first shot, then reviewed the RGB histogram and added more -EC if necessary. Then there are the blown highlights, which look obvious.

With any 'reflection' shot, it is very wise to make sure the camera is level and I'm not talking about the obvious, but possibly angled, pond edge 'horizon' we see here - a quick check whether a given bloom and its own reflection are vertical above one another shows they are not - it needs a small clockwise rotation, usually easily applied in PP, but I don't know what Photogene can/can't do.

I don't belief that's a neutral/correct white balance for the scene, it looks too yellow/green to me, if you shot RAW, I'd try Auto in PP, or manually adjust until it looks right

Composition is fine, given the subject and reflection.

If you're wondering how I found out all that EXIF stuff
I pasted the url of the jpg into the top box on this site and clicked the adjacent button.

Hope that's useful to you,

[Andrew1]

Only thing I can add is if this shot was taken from a lower angle the thick black line going through the wall in the background may have been hidden by the greenery. It does look a touch yellow but living where I do, not far from you, I realize there are many shades in all the green we are surrounded by. Some of it even luminous. Nice subject. A zoom in to get rid of the wall, curb giving the water lilies the majority of the space would look good too.

[Kaclarity]

As always thanks Dave and Andrew your advice is always welcome , I'll keep trying