OK, you have my interest now with the matches and now the wool. How do I mess about with my camera to get this? In words of one syllabul please.

Do you have a option on your camera that looks like a flower? I think that is the most used symbol for the macro setting.

Put it on that and get in close - for mine I think it's as close as 50cm but better quality will be closer still. Just allows your camera to focus on small objects really close.

I also use it to take something close and it makes the background all out of focus. Looks good.

http://drscavanaugh.org/digitalcamera/macro.htm
gave a good explanation of it.

My camera has two macro (flower) settings. Macro and super macro. As you'd think, super macro can focus on objects that are closer to the lens.

The macro settings are on an electronic menu setting rather than a position switched to on the selector wheel. I thought the camera reset to normal focus when it was turned off and then back on again. It doesn't (I notice the article Copago has linked to mentions that).

We went to Brighton for the day a while ago and I took a load of photos of the attractions and area. Because the thing was set to macro from the last time I used it, all of the photos were blurred and useless.

So, if the camera's macro setting is set via a menu, rather than a position on a selector switch, make sure it is switched off again before taking normal photos.

The flower photo posted a while ago was taken just holding the camera. I was lucky though. It's a job not to get blurring due to movement when taking macro photos. The box of matches was taken with the camera mounted on a tripod. The shutter was operated using the timer to avoid the shake caused when pressing the button manually. Some cropping of the photo was done too. The photo as it came off the camera had a bit of the box showing.

I have two cameras, the older one which I tend to use, and a newer but cheaper one which I have only used a couple of times. I will have a look to see what I have on them.

I checked them both and on both it is on the joystick thing, the thing you use to move through options and menus etc. So far I have only tried it on my old camera and it was great. Just think, for all those flower photos that I have taken I had been using zoom.

Thank you both for opening a whole new area of fun.

Zoom is OK but I find definition suffers if it's used. Probably need a really expensive camera to overcome that.

Yay! I found my macro setting - now to give it a workout