C&C please. First shot at Family pictures!

[Jemma]

Looks like you should bump up the iso, never too much though in mixed lighting i found that 400 iso is quite good, if you don’t mind playing with the lighting around the house too like lamps then move one so its hitting just behind the people lighting up the background. Then use a different light to light up the people. This makes your image look more 3d and stand out where necessary.

 

[Infinite_Day]

It would probably help to raise the ISO high enough to let you increase shutter speed and close the aperture a stop or two. You're shooting the lens wide open (I'm assuming it's a 1.8 max aperture 50mm) which may be contributing to your photos appearing soft as well.

 

[ghache]

Thanks for the critique so far guys. That's what was wrong, something was off with my focus!! I must have had it set on center weight... And no, they weren't taken with an iPhone... Canon 400D. I used a 50mm lens on some and then a 55-250mm lens.

Shot one: f/1.8, ISO 100, shutter 1/125, Tungsten for the WB, Manual mode
Shot two f 1/8 ISO 100 shutter 1/30 Tungsten WB, Manual mode
Shot three f/1.8 ISO 100 Shutter 1/50 Tungsten WB manual mode

...and looks like for all i had the focus on auto for center weight average metering. What settings would you all suggest I should have used instead?

Indoor, try to crank your iso a little bit, it gives you a bit more play with your aperture so you can control DOF and get a fair shutter speed.

I would have use F2 or 2.8 to get a little but more DOF (50mm 1.8 is kinda soft at 1.8). I would have cranked the iso to 400 to get a couple more stop of shutter speed. changed white balance to auto.

 

[ghache]

It would probably help to raise the ISO high enough to let you increase shutter speed and close the aperture a stop or two. You're shooting the lens wide open (I'm assuming it's a 1.8 max aperture 50mm) which may be contributing to your photos appearing soft as well.

I just repeated what you just said without looking at your reply, i guess we make sense haha