I quite like the image, very restful and I can easily imagine the boats gently bobbing on the water.

I have uploaded a mod, mainly cropping out some of the foreground which I find slightly bland, plus a quick tweak to bring out the green boat a bit more. Other folks mentioned the horizon so I left this alone.

In summary, I feel this is a good attempt but could be improved with a few mods and maybe a better time of day to give better lighting.

Not finding giveing crtique easy, so please do not take this the wrong way....

I love the partial image of the rose, the detail on the petals is superb and very different from the more common soft and blurry view.

I one thing I'm not keen on, and this is more personal preference, is the dark background. I would love to see this against a plain ivory colour, this may also give a bit more fill-in against the flash.

Cheers,
Les.

I really like position of the stick insect, and the colours of the privet are a great balance. Lighting is excellent, both for the main subject and the background.

The composition is good for the insect and the bottom leaves.

I'm not so keen on the top leaves, they seem a bit neither here nor there, and the top one distracts slightly due to it's brightness.

It's still an image I would ahve been more than happy to have taken.

Cheers,
Les.