I have been asked to take some arial pics of  n/p organization lake for a base line on of it's condition. Question is best to do this on a cloudy day or sunny? I plan on taking from center straight down and at a heigth to just encompase the lake. Suggestions welcome.  (I am brand new to drones.)

Hello there Zealot100. Good day and thank you for reaching out. I hope that our fellow DJI co pilots who flew there DJI Mavic Mini over a pond or a lake can give our some recommendations with regards to this matter. Just a reminder that when flying above the water, the vision positioning function will turn off automatically and only the GPS and barometer are used for positioning, if affected by the accuracy range, and an accident might happen. In addition I will also post a DJI Forum thread on How to Fly Safely Over Water. Thank you.

https://forum.dji.com/thread-181878-1-1.html

Probably best on an overcast day (You'll get less reflections from the water), and if you're interested in the water quality a CPL filter might be of help.