My camera blurs also with reds and near reds. I failed miserably when my Benfica just bloomed. When I have an intense color like this, I wait until late in the afternoon and go out on the deck on the South side of the house and snap sometimes dozens of photos until I get some I'm satisfied is the accurate color moving the face of the flowers this way and that way..not so with reds unfortunately. I just have have a tiny Sony camera with 12.1mega pixels, (which is now obsolete) and of course I always use macro..never a flash with a color like this...People who really know cameras (certainly not me) go in and change whatever it is that allows light through and then you have to change it back. I also have a 8.1 Sony mega pixel which takes an equally good photo. I'm not always as successful as I was with this intense pink, my husband was amazed that I did manage to get it exactly right..doesn't always happen. I have to say, whatever this flower is.. it is thee most eye catching, almost florencent, intense rose pink I have ever seen! I guess I'll continue to call her/him Hercules until another ID comes up..Happy shooting, Donna

Thanks, Eloise! All of the pics I take are when my camera is on the Auto setting, because I have no clue how to use it, otherwise. LOL With my A95 (and probably all of these similar Canons), I love how I can get rid of most of the "shakes" by holding the button all the way down. The camera (usually) auto-focuses for me, which is nice, since I hardly ever use our tripod. About the only thing I don't like about this camera is the long wait necessary in between flash photos. I really appreciate the flip-out LCD screen, as well as the size of it, too! My folks have another model with a smaller screen that isn't moveable, and it's definitely more difficult to view previews on it. You're right about the quarter, Bearstate. The preview looked clear, but when I viewed it on my computer, it appeared more blurry. I haven't had that issue with the usual pics I take (flowers, nature stuff...), so I imagine a coin collector wanting to take pics of his stash might have issues. :D From about 2 ft. away, with above lighting and flash - I usually do some editing in Paint Shop Pro (size, sharpness, contrast) before sharing my pics, as well. Some day, we'll get an upgrade on this camera, but until then, I'm enjoying the heck out of it. :) Brenda

Sharon, while I haven't been posting directly to your photo tip threads, I've been following them avidly. I so appreciate all the effort you've gone to to explain in such an easy way so many aspects of taking good [better for some of us] pictures. The last week or so I've been very busy organizing and then hosting our family reunion at a local fancy diner and have not had a real chance to digest the latest installments. The macro stuff interests me very much. I've tried to use my macro recently and found when I did the camera refused to take the picture?? Odd. LOL.. I'll figure it out but I suspect I'll have to dig through the manual to see what the problem is. Your post makes me suspect it has something to do with the camera not being able to focus on what I'm trying to do or the distance, or something..heh.. and it won't fire as self preservation. Smiles. I'll figure it out and then be back to digest more of your post. Btw, I got a tripod for my birthday! Yay.. I relative I had staying with me for a while apparently absconded with my last tripod. Grrrr... Needless to say I'm looking forward to using the tripod to work on some of your 'lessons'. Thanks for all your great work on our behalf.

You did really well with that one. It's gorgeous!