Water Willow

A simple but effective composition Robert. Great depth of field, perfect exposure, lovely and sharp and lovely muted colours. Theshadows are dark where they need to the and the rest suffused with just enough soft light to paint the scene. Great work, thanks. 

While I like the photo, it almost seems like two different photos in one, and I'm not sure how well they integrate.  The flower seems to be lit more strongly and directly, and it has stronger colors.  The rest of the frame is a wonderfully muted rendition of golden morning, soft and calming.  I suspect a subtle fill flash was used for the flower; if so, perhaps that's part of the reason why it seems the two parts of the photo seem somewhat disjointed.  But this is just one person's take.

No, I'll bet it wasn't fill flash but rather an integration of two different exposures, simply because you do that technique so well and because the nearest leaves are relatively dark (the opposite of what fill flash would do, unless corrected in processing).

I like it very much. Good technique on the blended exposure.

Beautiful colours and composition. Congrats.