Photographing felted pandas

So last week I talked about how I wanted to learn to take better photographs. Well today I finally finished reading the manual - it's 100 (small) pages!

I'm really glad I read it, there was one whole setting (scene) which I assumed, for some reason, didn't do anything interesting, but it actually has some helpful preset options.

I learned my camera has a Copy setting, which will take a clear pictures of printed text or drawings on a white board.

It also has a sunset/sunrise setting which does this:
to photos in normal lighting :)

The manual also had some helpful tips about shooting with auto.

For instance with autofocus, if the camera is unable to focus on subject at center of frame you can focus on another subject which is at same distance, lock the focus (by holding down the shoot button halfway) then recompose picture and press the shoot button down all the way.

Also if you're on auto and you want your subject focused by at the side of the frame, you should briefly put the subject in the centre of the composition, press the shoot button halfway then, with finger still on the button, recompose the picture, and press the shoot button down all the way. Which makes perfect sense, I just never thought of it!

Here's the pic taken like normal:

Here's the one which was focused first with the panda in the centre, then recomposed
Can you see the difference? It's very slight, but panda on the bottom photo is a little sharper.

Next up I'll be experimenting with exposure and ISO.

If you want to join me and eyebehold in our quest to become better photographers, feel free to add your name to the list and share it on your blog.