press the shutter-release button halfway to set focus and exposure.
with the shutter-release button pressed halfway, check the focus indicator and flash-ready lamp.
getting good results with autofocus
autofocus performs best when there is contrast between the subject and background and the subject is evenly lit. it does not perform well if the subject is very dark or moving rapidly, if there are objects of sharply differing brightness in the scene (e.g., the sun is behind your subjects and their features are in deep shadow), or if the subject contains objects at different distances from the camera (e.g., the subject is inside a cage).
4↑.2 take the picture
smoothly press the shutter-release button the rest of the way down to take a picture.
