Comparison photo (Gazebo by the river)

I took my Nikon D3500 with the "kit lens" Nikkor AF-P DX f/3.5-4.5G VR and took a quick drive down to the James River here in Richmond, VA. I found one of the, uh, "very comfortably well off" type of homeowners along the river, and saw their beautiful gazebo out along the riverbank. I walked right to the Private Property, No Trespassing sign, and very carefully aligned myself and my D3500 and took these two photos.

Which one looks better?

f/6.3 1/160 shutter, ISO 100

ButchA61 wrote in post #19185299
I took my Nikon D3500 with the "kit lens" Nikkor AF-P DX f/3.5-4.5G VR and took a quick drive down to the James River here in Richmond, VA. I found one of the, uh, "very comfortably well off" type of homeowners along the river, and saw their beautiful gazebo out along the riverbank. I walked right to the Private Property, No Trespassing sign, and very carefully aligned myself and my D3500 and took these two photos.

Which one looks better?

f/6.3 1/160 shutter, ISO 100

Hosted photo: posted by ButchA61 in
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forum: Critique Corner

Or this one?

f/8 1/250 shutter, ISO 180

Hosted photo: posted by ButchA61 in
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forum: Critique Corner

First.

Thank you.... I am always looking at ways to improve. I look at other people's photos, settings, etc... and use them as sort of a guide. One f-stop setting can dramatically change the tone of a photo, from what I see.

I like the first. But I would kill most of the foreground, nothing compelling there. My 2 cents

I prefer the first. The gazebo is the focal point, and without dramatic cloud textures in the sky, you're not really losing anything by making it lighter, but the image is stronger when the gazebo's shadow areas are visible.

I agree with Acetoolguy and I'd crop it to something more like this. The trees and gazebo complement each other, and the branches lead the eye around the image. A warmer white balance and slightly boosted saturation might help as well.

Looking again. A challenge you have is looking at the far bank, the horizon is straight, but the gazebo is not.

Agreed!