Water Drops on Lotus Leaf

I thought this simple, graphic design highlighted the subtle color

and texture of the lotus leaf but with some interest from the bright,

specular highlights of the small drops of water. I'm always

fascinated by the way water beads on these leaves, making it look

like mercury.

What does this image say? It is well focussed and exposed but seems to lack something.

A very good question, and certainly a valid comment about this particular image. I'll admit it's kinda minimalist. A better example of what I was trying for is this older photo. I would prefer to have seen better texture on the leaf. Lotus sometimes make for phenomenal interactions of leaf, moisture, and light. I think it was a rather nicely balanced composition, at least.

Nevertheless, I'm not sure a photo has to say anything in particular. If so, then this one says that I saw something that caught my eye and I wanted to make a representative image of it. I wanted to convey to others the beauty that I experienced in the natural world. In this case, what I saw was an interesting pattern in a leaf, with light shining on it in a certain way, and water drops reflecting and refracting in their particular sparkly way to provide additional interest. Sometimes the subject of a photograph is light itself, or texture, or color, or graphic form.