clairdo2,
Could it be that you're too close to the subject for your lens length? Back up some and see if it will focus correctly. Hope this helps.
Pam

I don't know what to add to Pam's suggestion except to watch your movement. Macros often have a shallow depth of field that can be easily thrown off by camera movement.

Also the shallow DOF means that all of your subject is unlikely to be in focus. To improve that situation, close down your aperture--say, to F8 or so.

One more thing.....do the images appear to be in focus in your viewfinder? With macros, sometimes it helps to let the camera focus as best it can, and then move forward and backward slightly until the focus improves before taking the picture.

thank you all ill try that...

Just an obvious tip, but one that can be over looked. One of the big helpers with macros is vibration reduction. If your camera or lens has it, make sure its turned on.

I primarily do Wildlife & Nature photography and I can tell you from first hand experience that extreme close up, Macro & Micro photography can be very rewarding; but, learning the proper techniques to consistently get good results can prove to be an extremely frustrating endeavor even under the best of conditions.
The first problem you encounter is "DOF" (depth of field). When you have a lens focus on a fixed point depth of field is defined as the distance in front of and behind that point that remain in focus.
Depth of field is directly proportional to the lens aperture diameter (F-stop). The larger the aperture the shorter the depth of field, however F-stop can be a bit confusing to beginners. The actual diameter of the lens opening is equal to the focal length of the lens divided by the f-stop number therefore if you have a 50mm lens set at f-2 the aperture diamter is 50/2=25mm whereas at f-16 the aperture diameter is 50/16=3.125mm. Just keep in mind that the higher the f-stop number the smaller the lens opening and the greater the depth of field. The key here is to select the highest f-stop number that the lighting conditions will permit but we must also consider shutter speed. While most people can hold a camera with a normal lens steady at 1/60 second for a scenic shot when shooting hand held macro shots you will need shutter speeds of 1/250 or greater and even then it is risky. The problem is even more pronounced when using longer lenses.
I often use my Sigma 75-300mm manual focus or my Pentax F 100-300mm in macro mode, but I would never even attempt to hand hold those lenses for macro shots. At the absolute minimum I use a "Monopod" which is simply a single telescoping pole with a camera mount on the top. (you can get a fairly good monopole at Walmart for about $15).
Here is an example of a macro shot of a bee that I took using my Pentax *ist (6.2mp) DSLR with the Sigma 75-300mm manual focus lens mounted on the monopod. The shot was at mid day in bright sun at 1/125s @ f-11 ISO 400 from about 4ft away.

If you have any aspirations of shooting a lot of macro or telephoto shots I would strongly advise you to invest in a good tripod, but the problem here is finding a good tripod. I currently have 11 tripods all of which were advertised as "Professional Quality" but to be honest 10 of them are little more than scrap aluminum held together with plastic. For shooting macro or telephoto lenses you need a solid heavy tripod that will hold heavy lenses rock steady and most of the junk they are selling today would be hard pressed to hold a slave flash unit.
Vibration is such a key problem in macro photography that even the tripod may not be the total solution. Just the mere action of pressing the shutter button can introduce enough vibration to alter your focus. At the bare miniumum you can use your cameras time delay shutter feature to trigger the shutter but an even better method is to use a remote shutter release. Nearly all DSLR's and Bridge cameras can be triggered by an inexpensive wireless infra red remote control button. In addtion, most DSLR's have a remote shutter release socket where you can plug in a remote release cable or wireless release unit. I have a wireless remote that has a range of up to 100 meters. With that I can set my camera on a tripod about 10 to 15 feet from the bird feeder or a limb where the birds land, then I can sit back 100 or so feet away and trigger the camera without scaring the birds or I can set the camera focused on a flower and sit back and wait for the bees to come, therefore I don't risk getting stung by the bee.
Here is a shot I took using the wireless remote with the camera 3ft from the flower but I was back about 40ft away.

Now if you are seriously interested in macro and micro photography you could consider using a Bellows.
Here is a shot of a common sewing pin that I took with my Pentax K10d using an old Asahi Pentax Auto Bellows and an Asahi Pentax 50mm 1.4 lens at about 1 inch from the pin.
The shot was taken on my computer desk using a 40watt lamp and a flashlight for lighting. Shot at f-16 @ 1.9seconds. Note: with the bellows at 7 inches extension the total depth of field was less than 1/16 of an inch.

When shooting outdoors you have to consider subject movement as well as camera vibration. Even the slightest breeze can spoil your shot. Here is a tip that I learned from an old fly fishing book. Generally in inland regions the wind begins to blow at about 10am. If you go out early in the morning you can get your flower shots before the wind begins to pick up. I thought this was silly when I first read it, but after 40 years of observation I havve come to the conclusion that the book was correct.
I hope this information is helpful. If you would like further assistance feel free to post additional questions or email me directly.

thank you so much, now all i need to do is practice. I have a cheap tripod but it seems to work pretty good when not taking macro pics...

I have 3 camera and all 3 take great macro picture
frist question what kind of camera are you useing
this one was taken with my Nikon D5000 lens 18 55
I will post another macro taken with my olympus
Anna

this one was taken with my olympus camera

Anna

i have a canon powershot tx1