Camera shake. There's an old rule about using a shutter speed "faster" than the lenseslens's focal length. If the lens is zoomed to 125mm the shutter speed should be 1/125 or faster. Setting a shutter speed slower than that results in blurry photos because the camera moves as the shutter is released. Depending on how steady you are and any image stabilization capabilities of the camera / lens you may need to set a faster or slower shutter speed. If the EXIF information for DSC_0098 is accurate this photo was taken at 1/60, f5.6, ISO 400 with the lens at 69mm (35mm equivalent). Since the lens is zoomed in quite a ways the aperture of f5.6 is probably the "fastest" (letting in the most light) that it can be. You have three options to reduce camera shake (faster shutter speed): increase the ISO which might result in unacceptable noise, use a flash to stop motion and provide more ambient light, or buy a lens with a larger (faster) maximum aperture like f2.8. If you want to stop any subject motion (like the skirt moving sideways) you need an even faster shutter speed.
Focus wrong. It's impossible to know why the focus is in the wrong location. Is the focus mode set to manual? Is the focus mode set to automatically determine what point to focus on? In DSC_0285closeuptinted you can see on the lace covering her lower right arm that the focus gets better as it extends towards the camera. When shooting portraits try setting the focus mode to single shot using only the central focus point. You can then aim at the subject's eyes, press down part way on the shutter button to focus then recompose the shot.
Depth of field. Only one plane in the photo can truly be in focus, everything else is not in focus. You can improve how much appears to be in focus by "stopping down" the lens and using a smaller fstop (bigger number). In DSC_TBDDSC_0227benchdaybreaktonesg the family extends away from the camera. To improve this photo you should adjust your focus technique: decide what is the closest thing that should be in focus and the most distant thing that should be in focus. Focus on a point that is about 1/4 of the way behind the closest focus. Stop down the lens, there is actually an optimum depth of field (DOF) and in the olden days a scale on the lens would have helped to set it, now you can: get a DOF calculator app, preview the DOF if your camera has a stop down button, shoot and review, or wing-it! In this case you probably need f16 or f22 to get decent DOF. Note that the smaller you make the aperture the slower the shutter speed or the higher the ISO you'll need.
Too much post-process sharpening. Sharpening increases noise in an image. Purists would say that you should only use sharpening to adjust the image for different media (monitors, LCD screens, prints). Sharpening will not change wrong focus, though in small focus errors it might appear to improve focus depending on viewing conditions.
Camera shake. There's an old rule about using a shutter speed "faster" than the lenses focal length. If the lens is zoomed to 125mm the shutter speed should be 1/125 or faster. Setting a shutter speed slower than that results in blurry photos because the camera moves as the shutter is released. Depending on how steady you are and any image stabilization capabilities of the camera / lens you may need to set a faster or slower shutter speed. If the EXIF information for DSC_0098 is accurate this photo was taken at 1/60, f5.6, ISO 400 with the lens at 69mm (35mm equivalent). Since the lens is zoomed in quite a ways the aperture of f5.6 is probably the "fastest" (letting in the most light) that it can be. You have three options to reduce camera shake (faster shutter speed): increase the ISO which might result in unacceptable noise, use a flash to stop motion and provide more ambient light, or buy a lens with a larger (faster) maximum aperture like f2.8. If you want to stop any subject motion (like the skirt moving sideways) you need an even faster shutter speed.
Focus wrong. It's impossible to know why the focus is in the wrong location. Is the focus mode set to manual? Is the focus mode set to automatically determine what point to focus on? In DSC_0285closeuptinted you can see on the lace covering her lower right arm that the focus gets better as it extends towards the camera. When shooting portraits try setting the focus mode to single shot using only the central focus point. You can then aim at the subject's eyes, press down part way on the shutter button to focus then recompose the shot.
Depth of field. Only one plane in the photo can truly be in focus, everything else is not in focus. You can improve how much appears to be in focus by "stopping down" the lens and using a smaller fstop (bigger number). In DSC_TBD the family extends away from the camera. To improve this photo you should adjust your focus technique: decide what is the closest thing that should be in focus and the most distant thing that should be in focus. Focus on a point that is about 1/4 of the way behind the closest focus. Stop down the lens, there is actually an optimum depth of field (DOF) and in the olden days a scale on the lens would have helped to set it, now you can: get a DOF calculator app, preview the DOF if your camera has a stop down button, shoot and review, or wing-it! In this case you probably need f16 or f22 to get decent DOF. Note that the smaller you make the aperture the slower the shutter speed or the higher the ISO you'll need.
Too much post-process sharpening. Sharpening increases noise in an image. Purists would say that you should only use sharpening to adjust the image for different media (monitors, LCD screens, prints). Sharpening will not change wrong focus, though in small focus errors it might appear to improve focus depending on viewing conditions.
Camera shake. There's an old rule about using a shutter speed "faster" than the lens's focal length. If the lens is zoomed to 125mm the shutter speed should be 1/125 or faster. Setting a shutter speed slower than that results in blurry photos because the camera moves as the shutter is released. Depending on how steady you are and any image stabilization capabilities of the camera / lens you may need to set a faster or slower shutter speed. If the EXIF information for DSC_0098 is accurate this photo was taken at 1/60, f5.6, ISO 400 with the lens at 69mm (35mm equivalent). Since the lens is zoomed in quite a ways the aperture of f5.6 is probably the "fastest" (letting in the most light) that it can be. You have three options to reduce camera shake (faster shutter speed): increase the ISO which might result in unacceptable noise, use a flash to stop motion and provide more ambient light, or buy a lens with a larger (faster) maximum aperture like f2.8. If you want to stop any subject motion (like the skirt moving sideways) you need an even faster shutter speed.
Focus wrong. It's impossible to know why the focus is in the wrong location. Is the focus mode set to manual? Is the focus mode set to automatically determine what point to focus on? In DSC_0285closeuptinted you can see on the lace covering her lower right arm that the focus gets better as it extends towards the camera. When shooting portraits try setting the focus mode to single shot using only the central focus point. You can then aim at the subject's eyes, press down part way on the shutter button to focus then recompose the shot.
Depth of field. Only one plane in the photo can truly be in focus, everything else is not in focus. You can improve how much appears to be in focus by "stopping down" the lens and using a smaller fstop (bigger number). In DSC_0227benchdaybreaktonesg the family extends away from the camera. To improve this photo you should adjust your focus technique: decide what is the closest thing that should be in focus and the most distant thing that should be in focus. Focus on a point that is about 1/4 of the way behind the closest focus. Stop down the lens, there is actually an optimum depth of field (DOF) and in the olden days a scale on the lens would have helped to set it, now you can: get a DOF calculator app, preview the DOF if your camera has a stop down button, shoot and review, or wing-it! In this case you probably need f16 or f22 to get decent DOF. Note that the smaller you make the aperture the slower the shutter speed or the higher the ISO you'll need.
Too much post-process sharpening. Sharpening increases noise in an image. Purists would say that you should only use sharpening to adjust the image for different media (monitors, LCD screens, prints). Sharpening will not change wrong focus, though in small focus errors it might appear to improve focus depending on viewing conditions.
Reviewed your photos here are my thoughts:
Camera shake. There's an old rule about using a shutter speed "faster" than the lenses focal length. If the lens is zoomed to 125mm the shutter speed should be 1/125 or faster. Setting a shutter speed slower than that results in blurry photos because the camera moves as the shutter is released. Depending on how steady you are and any image stabilization capabilities of the camera / lens you may need to set a faster or slower shutter speed. If the EXIF information for DSC_0098 is accurate this photo was taken at 1/60, f5.6, ISO 400 with the lens at 69mm (35mm equivalent). Since the lens is zoomed in quite a ways the aperture of f5.6 is probably the "fastest" (letting in the most light) that it can be. You have three options to reduce camera shake (faster shutter speed): increase the ISO which might result in unacceptable noise, use a flash to stop motion and provide more ambient light, or buy a lens with a larger (faster) maximum aperture like f2.8. If you want to stop any subject motion (like the skirt moving sideways) you need an even faster shutter speed.
Focus wrong. It's impossible to know why the focus is in the wrong location. Is the focus mode set to manual? Is the focus mode set to automatically determine what point to focus on? In DSC_0285closeuptinted you can see on the lace covering her lower right arm that the focus gets better as it extends towards the camera. When shooting portraits try setting the focus mode to single shot using only the central focus point. You can then aim at the subject's eyes, press down part way on the shutter button to focus then recompose the shot.
Depth of field. Only one plane in the photo can truly be in focus, everything else is not in focus. You can improve how much appears to be in focus by "stopping down" the lens and using a smaller fstop (bigger number). In DSC_TBD the family extends away from the camera. To improve this photo you should adjust your focus technique: decide what is the closest thing that should be in focus and the most distant thing that should be in focus. Focus on a point that is about 1/4 of the way behind the closest focus. Stop down the lens, there is actually an optimum depth of field (DOF) and in the olden days a scale on the lens would have helped to set it, now you can: get a DOF calculator app, preview the DOF if your camera has a stop down button, shoot and review, or wing-it! In this case you probably need f16 or f22 to get decent DOF. Note that the smaller you make the aperture the slower the shutter speed or the higher the ISO you'll need.
Too much post-process sharpening. Sharpening increases noise in an image. Purists would say that you should only use sharpening to adjust the image for different media (monitors, LCD screens, prints). Sharpening will not change wrong focus, though in small focus errors it might appear to improve focus depending on viewing conditions.
For your upcoming shoots you can reduce the chance of errors by keeping it simple and upping the complexity as you get the hang of things: keep everyone in the photo the same distance from the camera, choose locations with bright light (usually not direct sunlight), understand the different focus modes on the camera and use one where you know what will be in focus, practice with a friend or family member to be sure you've got the camera setup correctly and can get the results you want. I've been shooting for decades now and I still have to practice regularly to keep up my focus / exposure / composition skills.
Keep shooting and asking questions, you'll get the hang of it.