What's wrong with this photo???

Well, firstly, it's not plumb. One might argue that it could be easily fixed post capture. However, there is no room at the top or the bottom for straightening. So either the tree or the reflection or both will get cropped if I try to straighten it.

Secondly, it's very gray and bland. I should've used a better white balance. Again, not something that cannot be tweaked...but why do something later that you could've done while capturing?

Thirdly, I couldn't have picked a worse time of the day or day of the week. It was around 5:30 in the summer. The sky wasn't cloudy and the sun was out casting a white sky in the background.

Fourthly, may be using a telephoto lens might have given it some perspective but all I had is a 35mm which is kinda bland for these kinds of pictures. I'm not sure about this one though.

Fifthly, color saturation is weak. It just looks gloomly - the grass could have been greener, the water could have been bluer, the sky could have been....well...anything but a blanket of grayish white.

Here's what I plan to do. I'll be going back to this same spot in the next couple of weeks, taking at least 5 more with more or less the same composition - A tree and it's reflection. I'll attempt to do it at different times of the day and different days of the week (from a weather standpoint).

After I have my 5-6 pics, I'll post them all together and we can see which one stands out the most.