Laszlo wrote:
Thank u for chiming in on my very amateur question. Went out w/ my Canon t2i and 10-22mm lens to practice landscape shots. When I got home & inserted the SD card into my computer, I was horrified. Every single shot was out of focus. The lens settings, ISO shutter speed were all fine. I checked my lens & found that it was switched to MF instead of AF. I of course still shoot everything in auto. I'm sure that I checked some of the shots in the field but there I could not tell how bad the focus was. The bright sunshine probably washed out my screen a bit. Also my glasses are polarized which makes the camera screen appear even darker. Needless to say I will always check my lens setting from now on but is there anything else I could have done to discover this sooner.
Thank u for chiming in on my very amateur question... (
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Yes. Avoid the, "Ready? FIRE!!! Uh, aim? WTF is aim?" syndrome. Seek some photographic knowledge first, then go test it, then read some more, test, repeat.
Read The *Fine* Manual and learn all the controls on your camera. Study a couple of books on digital photography, so you understand the basics of:
> Light — diffuse vs specular, color temperature, spectral characteristics of different sources...
> Light modification — reflecting, bouncing, diffusing, filtering...
> Exposure — Shutter, Aperture, ISO, and how they interact
> Metering — incident vs reflective, average, center-weighted, matrix, etc.
> Compensating for subject reflectivity — metering for accurate reproduction and adjusting for effect
> Exposure MODES — when to use manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, program, auto, intelligent auto, etc.
> White Balance strategies — the limits of Auto White Balance, appropriate use of Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Incandescent, Fluorescent, and Custom/Manual/Preset white balance modes
> White Balance Tools and color calibration schemes
> ICC profiles and their importance
> Composition schemes — many classic ways to place subjects in a frame
> The color wheel — how to manipulate (compose or contrast) colors in a scene for effect
> Using light direction, contrast, and blending hard and soft sources for effect
> Lenses and their effects — magnification, depth of field, choice for perspective control, etc.
> Other typical camera controls and their effects
You have a very capable camera. Getting the most from it requires an understanding of the ranges of control available to you. That takes time, patience, reading for comprehension, asking questions, and gaining experience deliberately testing each control to see what it does.