Well I had originally just left it with ' they are getting better!'

I think the purpose of the rest of Snappers comments and subsequently mine were to try and help get the best out of the camera. I'd definately try and use that exposure compensation feature and try the focus testing. If you understand a little more about how that camera behaves it will help your photography overall. There may also be a feature that stops a picture being taken unless you have a focus lock on your subject. There will also be a minimum distance you can get anything in focus when you have the telephoto zoom at full magnification which may explain the bee picture. It's possibly not as close as you may think.

Technical issues aside my original post was more to do exactly as I said, you are getting better and trying. You have encountered some technical problems and are possibly finding some limitations of the camera. However I thought it was a good effort. The important thing that I meant was to give credit for going out purposefully and finding some shots. You have thought about different situations and in my opinion certainly have a few decent ones, particularly the first few you have posted.

As BC has said my comments are only meant to try and help, unfortunately I do not know the camera but I believe it to be a quality point and shoot.

Think it may just be a case of your not yet having found your way around the cameras features. I would start with the (green) mode until you get some shots you are happy with and then try some of the other settings. If you tell us what setting you are working on then we can try to suggest what you should try out.

Anything I say that may read like criticism will not be it is just my honest attempt to help. I only offer true criticism if it is asked for and then usually the photographer is so good I do not have the ability to say anything useful.

They are definitely getting better DD keep practising, you are doing really well XXXX