I'll bet you have hundreds of dollars in photographic equipment that never performed up to your expectations. This is a very common scenario in the world of photography as we are swayed by manufacturers promises of perfection with little or no training. It simply does not work and it won't. Dollars are not the answer to improving what you do. You might just own the necessary equipment to do the job, but not the expertise or product knowledge to bring out the best.
Training is the answer.
Unfortunately none of us has the time to go back to school and spend six months to two years to become a photographer. We purchased all this equipment to record the daily events of our lives. The good times and the bad, the happy and the sad. Not many of us wish a mid life career change, we simply want to take good photographs and eliminate film and money wastage. Carefully composed and properly exposed.