each camera is different, but the physics are always the same. i prefer to shoot wide open or nearly wide open depending on the quality of the lens. a good lens will let you shoot maximum aperture but with a mediocre lens you'll likely need to stop it down 1 or 2 stops. my personal preference is the canon 70-200L. its a very expensive lens, but they don't depreciate much and you can use them with any canon body you upgrade to in the future. with a good lens, you also don't loose much if you need to sell it used as long as you don't trash it.
as far as settings, i prefer to use aperture priority. so i set the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed. i don't have auto ISO so i usually set it at 200 for outdoor shots. this is where cameras will vary greatly. you'll need to do some research to see what ISOs your camera is best at. I try not to take my 40D past 800 in the dark and i don't shoot at 100 in full daylight as my shutter speeds will often exceed my max of 1/8000s at f/2.8. i'll occasionally look at the histogram to make sure the metering looks close. i shoot RAW and do post in Aperture so i have some latitude with exposure. if i really want consistency, i'll get a general idea of my settings Aperture priority and then i'll switch to manual and follow the histogram until i get my settings dialed in. having constant settings helps with post production as you can fix one picture and then apply those settings to all the rest.
i almost always shoot with only the center focus point activated as it is my only "crosshair" type. these are more sensitive at f/2.8 or greater. i don't know about your camera, but if i had a newer model i'd probably use one of the upper focus points to meter off the face vs. the waist. i also use the auto tracking auto focus setting for shooting water sports. this allows the auto focus to "track" the target to help keep them in focus.
hope this helps, once you leave the safety of the "auto" mode and get comfortable, you may never shoot "auto" again.
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