Throwing toys outta my pram

Its not the camera its me, I have been having a play with settings to try and get better pictures.
So stuck to auto tonight but still cant get what I want

Heres 2 I took on auto that were ok




Then took these 2 on same setting and there rubbish





Any help much appreciatted

Was it getting dark? (you might need flash) Do you have a steady hand? (There seems to be some camera shake in the last one).

The rest is down to composition - take a look at Lesson 1 in the monthly challenges section

Well, number 3 I think I can help with as it seems the camera has focus on the figures at the front instead of the bike furthest from you. So either set the camera to the scenic/landscape setting or when you half click the take button make sure the focus portion of the view finder is looking at the part you want in the sharpest focus. EDIT to say: AF (auto focus) will normally decide that you want the nearest item in focus so if, as in the case of the pits shot, you want as much of the scene as possible in focus you have to let the camera know this as even in AF mode it does not know what we want.

Think the problem with the last may be camera shake or it was so dark the shutter speed was too low.

Think I may be wrong but if the shots were mine that is what I would think I had done, btw I don't know about the others but of every 10 shots I take there are always some that are no good so you are not that unusual to find that some are not good enough for you.

My OH tells me it is Poole pits and you were at a Poole Pirates match, I though they were speedway bikes but did not wish to stick my neck out.

Yes the boys said they would like me to go as I have never been and they love it. Not my cuppa tea but OH and the kids really enjoy it think I will leave it to the boys.
I was sat up reading last night about aperature and shutter speed so going to try and get these 2 things straight in my mind and learn the basic setting as saw ISO and stuff and was really baffled.

ISO harks back to the old film days when if you were going to take film in good light on the beach or in open light you would buy 100, good light 200, poor light 400 and dusk or almost dark higher.

With digital until you are happier with what you are doing I would set it at 200 for day light and 400 for poor light or dusk.

If you have it set at 100 or 200 in the dark the camera will compensate for the lack of light going in to the sensor and hold the shutter open for longer it increase the light hitting the sensor and give you more time to shake the camera.

U should charge snapper you make it sound simple. Nikon want £140 for a course to show you how to use there camera.
I get ISO now woopee

Your shutter speed is way to slow - You were shooting at 1/40, 1/30, and 1/50. This will ultimatly result in camera shake. You need to be at least 1/60 at the minimum. You are also shooting in auto, which gives you little control over the exposure settings. If you dont want to deviate from auto just yet, try to crank up your ISO. This makes the camera more sensitive to light, and in turn, it willl choose a faster shutter speed

Check out this easy guide to ISO if you need more help..
http://www.yophotographer.com/page.php?t=58

Shutter speed is defo something I got to get to grips to as I wanted camera to take action pics of my dogs and not getting any that are half decent. But when I took pics of dogs in sports mode was just a blur.

Re moving dogs - turn the ISO to 400 - set camera scene to action - push the button half down on the dog then follow the dog and gently squeeze the button all the way, like a golf swing start before you fully depress the button and continue after you hear the shutter release.

KC, we have lots of guides in the newbie section explaining shutter speed, ISO, Aperture, Composition ect ect. Get yourself confident on one aspect at a time, and see the impact it has on other areas of the camera.

http://www.yophotographer.com/sectio...er=desc&page=4

You will be able to play with shutter speeds on the D60 by popping it into "S" mode. Here you control the speed and the camera eveything else.