entry reflections 142: trees in a puddle muddle

the sun was shining earlier today so i took a walk along a section of the coast that i had not been to for many years. my usual rocky places are too icy and slippery to chance falling on the rocks and the lower sections close to the sea are too wet.

this area borders a small nature reserve without any paths to the shore so to get to the sea farther ahead i followed the dirt road for a while. i came upon this puddle in a mostly open area where the reflection of the trees in front of me and the dramatic sky above was striking

i zoomed in a little to trim most of the road on the sides of the puddle to get my contest entry shot

and zoomed in more to get only the surface reflection in the shot. i liked them all but viewing trees upside down doesn't feel right

so as an edit i flipped them. it looks more natural this way but in the real world it is not possible to see this. i went to the other side of the puddle to see but that reflection was not nearly as interesting. a reflection will always be of whatever is in front of me, not behind me

so now i had to choose between what is real and what appears more real, at least at first glance. what would you choose?

and by the way flipping is not the same as rotating 180 degrees as shown here. this is not only downside up but also left and right are switched

so this is an upside-down reflection, not a direct shot of the trees