Your problem is that the pale pink flowers are overexposed, in a see of dark green leaves. This is what your camera will automatically do if you set it to the "automatic" or "point and shoot" mode. The key is to control the following: 1. The object lighting 2. The background (and foreground) lighting 3. Controlling contrast in your composition 4. Camera settings of speed, aperture and ISO. You need to experiment - i.e. "fool around" - with your camera. It's much easier to learn nowadays with the digital camera. In the "old days" of film cameras, one would have to shoot at different apertures, speed, ISO, take the film to develop and then see the results. And, of course, there is the cost of the film and the developing. I would start off with simple manouvres - try varying the aperture - which determines how much light is allowed in to hit the sensor for a given period of time that the shutter is open. The smaller the number, the more light that's allowed in. The higher the number, the less light. You can do this either with the manual setting (usually "M") or a selection on your camera called aperture priority ("A" or "Av"). Once you have "fixed" the aperture size, you then compensate for the variation in light hitting the sensor by varying the shutter speed, and the "film" speed - the ISO setting. If your camera has an Av or A setting, then, I won't worry about those - just switch to Av, select the aperture size and camera will do the rest. Unfortunately, I don't believe there is an Av or A setting on the Power Shot SD400 - you have to set it to M (manual mode) and get into the menu to select the ISO's. Refer to the owner's manual. An interesting impact of varying the aperture is that you will vary the "depth of field". The depth of field is the distance range of the picture where all objects will be withing focus. The larger the aperture, the narrower the range, rendering every thing outside of that range out of focus. You can use this to advantage, as, together with careful lighting, you can make an object "pop" out of the background, like this: However, it won't be much good if you want a picture of a whole bush or a whole bed - in which case, you would use a smaller aperture setting. There is an excellent on-line resource, DigitalPhotography.com, which gives fairly clear tutorials on the various aspects of digital photography.

Thank you for straightening me out, Sherry. I thought it was just thistle. Hollyhocks are indeed lovely garden plants. And Pearly everlasting is a nice little plant for the fall. I want to put in more fall bloomers next year-asters, in particular, but also goldenrod. The ornamental grasses also look great at that time of year. I put in switchgrass this year, and I am quite happy with it. Maybe I will put in some Lovegrass-I saw it at the National Arboretum recently and I thought it was very pretty. We have to provide something for our little skipper friends!

Hi Kudzu9, The next time you want the pictures to stay on the camera, simply copy them to the computer. The picture's were on the camera and I transfered 6 picture's from my camera to the computer. With this camera I can put a lock on them to keep from losing them by mistake. I always lock them in, but for some reason I over looked 2 pictures and forgot to put the lock on them. When I put them in the computer, 2 of them were not locked, had they been locked they would have stayed in the cameras memory card. There is nothing unique about it just because it is camera memory. I understand where you are coming from and you probably are more familiar with the digital camera than I am because when they first came out I didn't go out and purchase one right away, I was still using my old style camera. When I purchased my HP Printer I have never had a reason to use the slots for the memory card until now. For you it isn't unique because there are a lot more of them out there now. I am still learning about my camera and the software that came with it and as I learn I become more familiar with it too, it takes time but, I will eventually master how it works and if I run into a problem like I did this time, I trust that I can come here and get excellent help from you all. "Smiles" Thank you for your reply. Hi Owbist, Just happy to be of assistance Thirdfrt. Thank you and I appreciated the fact that you answered me so quickly with a great solution to my problem. It's nice to know that there are other ways to do things in case you have to go that way and I saved your information just in case I would have to go that way. When my 2 youngest grand children were just little tykes I could take well over 150 photos in an afternoon and evening. Many were garbage as I kept the camera on my knee clicking when they presented a suitable shot. I have two young grandchildren ages 8 and 3 years and I take a lot of pictures of them also but, if I don't like what I see I have the option to erase them at that moment and start over. Why save them if they aren't any good right? You must be well coordinated to be able to keep the camera on your knee, if that were me I would be dropping it and getting pictures of the ground instead of the kids. "LOL" Because of that I went out and bought a small tripod for the camera (it also takes videos)and that way I can get better shots or take a video if I want to. It helps. Thanks again for all of your help. thirdfrt!!!

sombrueil_mongrel, that is another explanation but the KitchenAid Dishwasher has a reflection to it and is more chrome-like so is brighter with less grain. The LG Dishwasher has more nickel in it which can be seen by the more grayish color and the fact that it is not magnetic. It has a grain to it. I was thinking the KitchenAid was richer but now I see that the LG's stainless is most likely sturdier and definitely easier to clean. I now feel disappointed since the Bosch dishwasher with the cutlery tray I loved and it matched better but I chose the KitchenAid for the drying feature and the little bag in the front to hold plastic lids. If I known that the Bosch had a better stainless steel, then I would have had one more factor to consider. But in all fairness, so far I have been happy with my KitchenAid Dishwasher as well as my LG Refrigerator. I do wish they matched better and I know the Bosch was a better match with the handle but I had no idea it was a better match with the SS also since the store did not have the dishwashers near each other and their lighting is different. I am going to have to test the GE Cafe Range I am going to buy but I have a feeling it will not be magnetic since to my eyes it matches my LG refrigerator better now that I know that a more gray look could be more nickel content. But I would love to believe that they are both the better Stainless Steel with the grain different and one having a little more Chromium and a little less nickel. But I don't see any nickel in the finish of the KA DW. Does anyone know what type of SS each of these appliances is made out of? Our world is so amazing that we can never know everything and everyday is a new learning opportunity.