Swan boats at the Boston Common

I took a trip up to my home city over Memorial Day weekend. It's slightly stressful trying not to annoy the family by not lingering to take pictures, but I couldn't resist. Here's 3 from that day. I'm still trying to define my style so I'm still experimenting.

Thanks for looking.

My $.02 of opinion: I like number two the best of the three photos. Looking at the histogram, it nearly encompasses the spectrum from light to dark.

Number one is a little heavy towards the dark side. If the intent was to use the boat/bridge as the focal point, there is a lot (ok, too much) green in the shot. You could have went tighter by switching to the zoom. Regardless, there are too many people wandering through the scene which is a distraction from the intent. You stated you were with family so waiting wasn't an option. Rating of this one out of the three is three.

The swan (picture three) is leaning to the dark side. Since you shot in manual see what it looks like if you open up the darks (blacks or shadows) and see if you get some life in the water. A plus is the swan is looking towards the camera. Some would prefer the head turned a little further where you could see its eye. Again you didn't have the luxury of time to wait until it posed correctly for you.

I will say you have stuck with it and have learned much in the last year. Congratulations.

Gart