I strongly suspect you may be putting everything on auto and hoping the camera will focus on the right thing. It wont, because the camera has a very crappy auto

I strongly suspect you may be putting everything on auto and hoping the camera will focus on the right thing. It wont, because the camera has a very crappy auto-mode. It will, when you learn how to use manual mode and pick your own focus point. I fully accept that this is not something most people are interested in, but that camera can and does take wonderful images. Here are a few samples (randomly picked by flickr - I hope they're good :P ). https://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/eos_digital_rebel_xsi/ https://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/eos_digital_rebel_xsi/