A photo of my father's orchids  

Where is the photo? It is not in you profile or web page.

PS you have a nice toothy smile.

that is a fair shot for using a simple point and shoot camera. it might have come out a little better if you had not been so close. since you are learning, here ia a close up of a flower with a nikon d40 dslr. you will see the difference.

Very nice color and composition! The focus could definitely be a bit sharper. You could try sharpening the photo in an editing program such as Photoshop to see if it helps. Or you could add a soft focus filter to give the photo sort of a dreamy effect. Either way would help compensate for the focus!

Your camera actually does have a macro mode, good from 8 to 15cm. If you were not using the right mode, the camera can't focus on such a close subject.

If you were in macro, the reason for your soft results probably come down to shake (when you are this close, even the action of gently pressing the shutter button can blur your shot); or focussing on the wrong point - the main part of your picture is off centre, but the this camera's focussing sensor is dead centre. The trick is to focus with the subject in the centre by holding the shutter release half-way, then recompose without releasing the button until the composition is as you want it.

Another possibility is that you were in focus, but allowed the camera to sway back or forward a fraction before you finished pressing the shutter release.

I like your off-centre composition and the overall balance you have achieved. Keep working at it and you will certainly do well.

If you would like some specific help with macro shots, have a look at my article at www.qassia.com/introducti... ~ you will also find articles there on dealing with focus problems and flower photography. I hope they are useful to you.