[mattcryer]

Thanks for the advice all.

@Wulf - I've progressed somewhat, purely for making the adjustments myself in manual mode. Part of my problem I feel was (when in AV mode) large changes in shutter speed etc every time I tried to meter on a different part of the scene to get a better exposure.

One final question regarding metering:

On my 400d, when looking for the camera to achieve a good balanced exposure, what are the right situations in which to use the various metering options? : Evaluative, partial, and centre-weighted

Thanks