I am really struggling to take great pictures ( oe even a good pic) of my black Labrador.
Any help on settings would be much appreciated.
He is either out of focus, or the pic just looks dull and he doesn't stand out.

I have only had my camera a week or so, so am still limited too the lenses that came with it.
I have a Nikon D3100 with a 18-55mm lens and the 55-300mm lens.

I am after a nice portrait still shot of him (hope that makes sense, still learning the terminology) and I have also read that taking a meter reading off the blue sky will help?

Thanks in advance