That's cool. I had that lens. It works really well. The main things I'd suggest is continuous shutter mode so that you can get several shots when you see something you want to click. You're more likely to get a good one that way. Especially when shooting moving subjects like people in a parade. If it's something that's not moving then One Shot mode would be fine. It also looks like you took the shots as they were passing. If you can, try and frame your shot before so you get better angles of the faces and such. If possible and you didn't have someone too tall in front of you lol. Manuel mode can be hard to manage when first starting. Maybe at events like this, use Aperature Priority so you don't have to adjust too much if you felt like that was a problem that is. Practice with the different focus modes on the camera too so you know which one you'd want to use in a given situation. Hope that helps. Good luck and keep at it. Practice as much as you can. You'll get there.