Originally posted by TheDude1363 I've been jumping the gun and have gone out shooting, now I've had little to no success with sharp image quality and I'm fairly sure it's my technique and possibly kit lens 18-135mm.
Technique, not the lens. The 18-135 is quite capable, not pro quality, but good enough that any faults are the photographer. At least until you have out grown it.
Suggest you put the camera in Av mode, and start with simple boring images. Don't try taking pictures of your dog running around and expect them to come out well, not going to happen. Set up some objects in very good light on a table and practice with different settings. Use a tripod to start if you have one. When you can get consistently sharp pictures of a well lit, non-moving object, then move on to something else.
Suggest you get and read at least twice, "Understanding Exposure", by Bryan Peterson. Explains the basic control of light in a camera for taking images.
Suggest you read the k-3 manual. Boring and not very good and you will not understand most of it. But unless you have read the manual, a lot of what you will learn later, in class or elsewhere will not connect. K-3 is a pro level, complicated camera, not a point & shoot. It requires study and practice to get the best out of.
Think of your camera phone or a point & shoot as bicycle. Simple and obvious and nearly anyone can learn to use it in a few moments. Think of the k-3 as a helicopter, just because you can drive a bicycle does not mean your first experience in flying a helicopter is going to turn out well, the amount of learning and practice required is considerably larger.