Thanks to Barney suggesting the other day I do some research on backlit photos, that led me to go over all the settings on my Nikon D3500 and I changed a few things from what I found. Consequently my photos today look just like they did when the camera was new. I had not been happy with the quality of the photos for a long time. Of course these were taken mid day on a bright sunny day, so lighting made a difference too. Still I can tell a big difference in quality.