When I teach others how to shoot I always put them in manual with one lens, usually a prime and have them use their two feet for the zoom.
I start off with metering to the middle at first and have them concentrate on composition. I then go over their images and explain why some areas are too dark and why some may be too bright, this teaches about exposure compensation based on the subject and conditions. I do it this way since once you learn manual settings you then understand what the camera is doing in the auto/program/scene/priority modes

Now with that, if you have pics of kids or something that you do not want to risk missing use the auto modes until you learn the basics and shoot in full manual when you are practicing and learning you new camera. Hey it's digital and the film is real cheap now;)

Very Nice, You have done well with your practice.

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Thanks alissaspieces.

The lens is a 80-200 with a 36mm extension tube. Focal length was 120mm f6.3 for the crown and f8 for the other, both shot at 1/30th sec. camera set to 100 iso. Room lighting was normal brightness, in fact there is a patio door just to the left that had the blinds open. I prefer it to be a little bright so I can stop the lens down to expand the DOF. The flash has a guide number of 56 and was shot at 1/8th power to shorten the burst duration and cycle times.

Thank you Regis

and finally my ghetto set-up. The colors on in the back is how I color the surface of the water, the flash carries the colors from the back to front giving the dark areas in the rings.

and another

Here is a new one from today

@alissaspieces, Thanks for the comment. Settings were:

ISO 100

1/15th sec

f 18

Off camera flash (left and bounced of the colors behind the water) set to 1/16 power.

Camera - Sony A700

Lens - Tamron 70-210 f2.8 with extension tubes dialed in to 90mm

My set up for the water was also ghetto, LOL, ziplock baggie with a pin hole in the bottom. If you really want to get into some calculated shots look into the CameraAxe

http://www.cameraaxe.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

The set up can be a little pricey but the possibilities are endless. :-D

Here is one I did a few years ago

To get the drops tack sharp I:

1) Set an object across the water at the point where the drops hit (i.e a pencil or long small diameter dowel rod.)

2) set my focus for that point and switch my camera to manual focus so it does not use AF to refocus later.

3) Remove the object and start the water drops.

(all of this assumes that you are using a tripod)

I have not used it, in-fact never even heard of it.

But, I just recently calibrated my Sony A77 and decided that the whole shoot at an angle of 45 deg was a pain in the rear when switching between lenses of different focal lengths.

Point of the post, check out this web site for the GhettoCal
http://www.parallax-effect.ca/2013/03/12/the-ghettocal-my-diy-lens-calibration-tool-for-micro-adjustment-enabled-dslr-cameras/

Looks similar and a whole lot cheaper if you have some time and patience. But then I hat to spend money on gimmicks aimed at us photogs.

Also agree with the flash (or a reflector) for some fill to help with the shadowing.

Okay, further thoughts bring more questions.

Were you tracking here movement prior to the shot?

If so the overall blur could have been from some movement and the main subject being OOF could be just missed focus. It happens, especially if she was running towards you (hardest movement for the AF to keep up with) With this as has already been mentioned a bit of flash to "freeze" the movement would help but only if the focus was also on. I also would probably go to f8 for a shot like this to expand the window of what is in focus.

This is true, however nothing seems to be in focus, nada. look at the road surface at all distances it seems to be soft. If it is not camera shake, I don't know the OP's technique, then something should appear to be in focus. Other option is it just needs some sharpening but I am not that familiar with Canon images and how the camera processes them. I know OOC KM/Sony images are usually a bit on the soft side unless you up the sharpening in camera, but I shoot mostly raw so I do not worry about it until post.

Here are three from I set I took today