I hope so! I’ve got a pretty limited knowledge of photography but I really want to be able to improve my photos. I have a Canon EOS 60D, which I’ve had endless issues with – not least because you have no control over the focus point in all of their ‘automatic’ modes – it always focuses on the thing closest to the camera (even if it’s a leaf in the front left corner of the shot), rather than whatever you have framed in the center of the photo – and there seems to be no way to change this. So I’ve had to resort to using the manual modes, and I just don’t have the technical knowledge to be able to set the camera up to take the best shots!

If it’s a beautiful summers day, and I’m taking portrait style photos I’m fine, see…?

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It might not be the most accomplished photo in the world but I was pleased with it!  Yesterday presented a lot more challenges though. I was tasked with taking some photos of my son karting in the rain. Not only was it dark and gloomy, but I wanted to photograph moving karts and spray in gorgeous clarity. The rain lifted after a while but there was then a lot of glare from the sunshine in all the puddles.

The photos looked cracking on the preview screen of the camera which seems to be deceptively flattering, something which always leads to disappointment afterwards, but the photos were grainy and the details were just not sharp once I got them onto my PC. It’s probably impossible to tell from these lo-res versions but you can see the originals here.

My camera settings were:

Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Manual mode: TV
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure time: 1/2500 sec.
ISO speed: ISO-1600
Exposure bias: 0 step
Metering mode: Pattern
EXIF version: 0230

I was using a zoom lens which is a Sigma 28-300mm. Any suggestions for getting clearer sharper pics would be really appreciated! Thanks!

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