Are you shooting in RAW or JPG?
In RAW, the camera does not do any sharpening. You have to do that in post processing.
Autofocus.
- When shooting in "Auto" mode, the camera focus on the "closest subject."
- IOW, the camera chooses what to focus on, not you. And it focus on what it sees as the closes subject.
- I would shoot in one of the PSAM modes, so that YOU can select what to focus on.
- P mode is similar to Auto, but allows YOU to select what to focus on. This is my usual mode.
- You use the direction pad to move the focus point. Read the manual and practice.
For portrature, I suggest using A or M modes.
- A = Aperture priority. This allows YOU to select the aperture, which gives you control over depth of field.
- Usually you would use a large aperture (small number), to give you a shallow depth of field.
- M = Manual. You have control over both aperture and shutter speed.
In A or M, you now have to select the appropriate aperture, shutter speed and ISO level.
In A mode, the camera selects the shutter speed, but you have to watch that it does not drop too low, for you to be able to hold the camera steady. If the shutter speed drops too low, you have to raise the ISO level.
Color
If you want more color, the subjects have to wear brighter colors.
For color #1 is the best, as the boy has red/orange-red. But people have to match the color they wear. Some do not look good in red.
In #2, putting him in front of the green tree would make his shirt stand out more than against the rock wall. But then his hair may blend into the dark parts of the tree.
Pictures:
#1
- Background is out of focus, good.
- The focus "appears" to be on his sweater, or his right hand and knee, not his face.
- Make sure you know where the camera is focusing on.
- I suspect that the camera decided to focus on his sweater, where there was more contrast.
- I would have position him or you, such that his full head was in the path, so his head stands out from the background.
- At first I thought that I would shoot a tighter shot. But as it is shot, it is a great square frame shot, where you crop the top and bottom to give you the square.
#2
- The rock wall behind him is "busy" and distracts my eye from him. It is also in focus.
As Andy said, increasing the subject's distance from the wall, would let you blur out the wall, so that it is not as distracting.
For some reason, my eye is drawn to the part of the wall in the red circle. Maybe it is the lines, angles and color or the stones. This is a problem with a busy background.
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#3 - Looks good. I like how the background is out of focus, so it does not distract the eye.
BTW, in pics 1 and 2, the face is farther away from you than other parts of the body; in #1 the knees , in #2 the hands and his left knee. So the face would not be the "closest subject." This is a problem with "closest subject" focusing.