>>3964289A couple of things:
Post processing:
1. You're shooting RAW. right? Your post will be garbage if you're not
2. Make sure you're doing post in either lightroom or rawtherapee (depending on budget)
3. In post, starting out, less is more. Try to just correct the flaws rather than getting artsy with it at first.
Shooting tips:
1. Your first priority should be framing and depth of field. What do you want in frame, and how much needs to be in focus.
2. Your second priority is exposure. Making sure you get enough light to expose all the important details
Manual shooting:
1. If you're mainly shooting close-ups of stuff inside the house, set your exposure as wide as it goes. So if the lens is f3.5-f6, set it to f3.5. This is because usually that amount of depth of field is plenty for your close-up shots on most kit lenses, and because f3.5 will let in the most amount of light (and indoor lighting is usually shit)
2. Set ISO to 100 and shutter speed to 1/125.
3. Is it too bright? Reduce shutter speed to 1/160 or whatever until proper exposure
4. Is it too dark? Decrease shutter speed to 1/60 and shoot bursts - as long as you have optical stabilization and can hold reasonably still, you may be able to go lower than that. I can take pretty sharp pictures at 1/15 by holding my breath and shooting bursts.
5. Is it too dark but you can't make the shutter any slower without getting motion blur? Turn up ISO slowly until it's not.
There is a balance to be had between shutter speed and ISO to get properly exposed, sharp pictures. Depending on your camera and how shaky you are, you might be better with a higher ISO and faster shutter. I can hold very very still so I usually err toward slower shutter and lower ISO. Maybe you're the opposite, IDK.
Protip: Figure out how to enable histogram on your camera so you can actually verify you're not under or over-exposing.
