Help with photographs!!

Our digital camera is now quite elderly, compared with the memory you can get these days. It does however have the bonus of a setting for close-ups. I just put it on that setting and lean in to the flowers until the image is shar on the screen. Some don't work, they come out blurred and get deleted!! By the way, thank you for your lovely comments on my photos - I now have the 'bug' to capture my flowers not just as plants, but as beautiful blooms. More on the way!

For close ups you want the greatest OPTICAL zoom facility you can afford.

Hi Maple, I'm with Spritz and OwdBoggy on this one. If you haven't done so for a while it's worth looking at the manual for the camera you have to see what settings to use for close ups. If you want to buy a new camera for close ups, optical zoom is what you want. I bought a Nikon D40 this year (entry level digital SLR). My photos got a lot better but I read the manual which I never did with my compact! All of my photos on Grows on You (except a few on the last 2 pages) are taken with the 18-55mm lens I got with the D40, no special add ons.

Even though it's entry level it's still not cheap but it's simple enough to get to grips with now and there's scope to learn as I improve.

I think most would say the big choice is whether you want to buy an SLR (the big ones with changeable lenses) or a compact. I only know this much from my recent purchase but I can say I'm very happy with mine.

Thanks guys for the responses. I have had a look again at the manual and it doesn't seem to have a setting for close-ups.
So I think what I'll do is donate this camera to my eldest and look for a new one with higher pixel count and a close-up capability.
For now I'll just keep enjoying all of your pics and strive to achieve the same standards. merci beaucoup

Hi Maple, over the weekend I bought a new digital compact. I have a 'big' camera like Peter but find I am lost without a little one to take family, occasion and general pics. I bought a Ricoh - Caplio R5 which has 7 megapixels and a 7x optical zoom. It also has a macro (closeup) mode and many others.
To my delight it takes nice close-ups without too much trouble. It is in the reasonably priced range for these things at £129.
I took the following picture with it today...
http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/2265/member/joey
Happy hunting!

Thanks for that Joey and reasonably priced sounds good :) As for the pics you've taken on your new one it certainly looks worth the money! They are beautiful

Just thought I'd add that I have also this week bought myself a new digital camera - it's a Finepix F30 with 6.3 megapixels and while it only has 3 x optical zoom, the total zoom is 18.5. I was very pleased to read in the Sept Gardening Which magazine that it is recommended in the lower price bracket! I've taken several close ups with it, and am still practising, but although it's not quite up to our (expensive) old one, it's doing what I want it to. You'll have to look at the results I'm getting to see what you think - the pink Salvia bloom was taken with it. It was about £140. Hope this helps.

I think it was worth it spritz!! Wonderful clear picture