Hey I was at Coniston at the weekend too! Were you at a campsite? Great weather huh?!?
As for the pics, they're OK but for me, they don't stand out.
1) There's a lot of white in the scene - i.e. the sky and its reflection in the water. Now sky and its reflection are not always a bad thing, but I think in this case it's not an "interesting" sky (i.e. no colour, clouds, etc) so the large blank expanse dominates the picture without providing much in the way of interest. Maybe a B&W conversion would produce a contrasty image...? Maybe not - just a thought.
2) Potential here I think, but I have trouble identifying the subject of the photo; is it the rocks in the water? The stones on shoreline? The leaves on the stones? Maybe a closer crop on more specific rocks in the water could help...? And again, possibly a contrasty B&W version so as to use the "fade to white" effect (the pic fades to white in the top right hand corner) - plus there is very limited colour in the picture as it stands so there's not much to be made of it.
3) This is the best of the bunch for me - there isn't too much bright white sky at the top, and the water is given some interest due to the reflection of the hillside opposite. The shoreline gives a leading line and trees provide some interest. It's quite a bleak sort of image, but I think it kinda works...
4) Very nice colours and good sharpness on the reeds, but again I'm left wondering what the subject is? I would guess the reeds are, as they are in focus, but they are only half the picture and the other half is OOF due to the shallow DOF. There's nothing wrong with a shallow DOF of course, but this pic seems to have been caught between the reeds and the mountains - I would say either use the reeds and make them the main focus of the picture, or (as ImpSpeed says above) move back and include more of the scenery and use the reeds as a point of interest in the foreground.
Make of that what you will.....just my 2c worth!
