Winter aconite

I decided to go for a mooch around the garden for todays blip and use my new dslr. I thought there might be a few snowdrops and winter aconites flowering. To my surprise there was also viburnum, lavetera barnsley, marigolds, wallflowers and fewerfew. The images were very mixed. I must be doing something wrong because half the time when I depressed the shutter release nothing happened. Probably because I was too close to the subject. I did read a bit of the manual and it said and I quote, 'The 'auto' mode allows you to easily shoot any subject under any conditions'. Clearly not the case for me. I think I better get the manual out again or go on a course.