Birds in background are too obviously mirrored. One would be enough. The shadow on the skull is opposite the light source. There are some dark blobs at lower left that have no relation to the images. Try to examine your composition & light sources and try again.

But....is that water in the background? No water! Good luck!

Edit: fixed

I fixed the shadows of the skull and the tree; I hope it's better now. About the "dark blobs", they are shadows of vultures that are flying above. When there's a carcass, a lot of vultures fly over the place, not only one. Ah, and I finished drying the lake. Thank you!

nice work .. gl author

Depicting drought conditions is not the same as "an entry where water supposed to be the subject" per the contest's theme. And the shadows are a mess: the vulture on the carcass appears to have a shadow under it, to its right, and to its left -- is this a three-sun planet?

Dan: I don't know if you have ever seen, but, when there's a carcass, a lot of vultures fly around the prey, not only one or two... They simply don't appear in the scene (just their shadows) but they are there, flying, waiting thei chance to eat.

Shadows in all different directions? Sorry have to agree this is a mess.

I fixed the vultures shadows; how about now?

Nice try....