I don't remember if you ever told us what camera you had, whateverist, but if you have a DSLR, there are two settings to play with how sharp/focused the photo. Laymen's explanation/general rule of thumb:
Shutter speed is what you use when you want to take sharp photos of something in motion. The faster the shutter speed, the sharper the image. This has the unfortunate effect of letting less light in, so generally you'll have to either open the aperture, or bump up the ISO. Or shoot outside in good lighting. A slower shutter speed will add blur into the photo as something wanders past. This is how landscape photographers "smooth out" water scenes like waterfalls, rocky rivers, or oceans. You can also use a REALLY long exposure time to eliminate any humans walking past a building, if you're clever.
Aperture is going to control the "depth of field". This is the band of sharp quality you see in macro photos a lot. Portrait mode on camera plays with this setting - that's why the humans in the foreground are in focus, but the background is softer. The wider the aperture, the less will be infocus, or the tighter the area. The smaller the aperture, the larger the focused area. However, the smaller the aperture, the less light gets in, and vice versa, so you'll have to bump the ISO or shutter speed to compensate. What you want to do in the photo will determine how you adjust those settings. Of course, there are filters you can add to help with some of this.
A point and shoot camera will have settings for "landscape", "macro", "portrait", and all that, and will come with predetermined settings that adjust a bit based on what happens when the autofocus latches on to your subject and the light-metering is processed. Most DSLR's have these 'auto' settings as well, but they're nowhere near as fun as using Manual mode.
How much you can adjust those settings will be determined by the lens you use. An f/1.8 lens like Alex mentioned is going to give you hella DoF control - lots of bokeh, if you want it.
There are a ton of tutorials for how to use your camera in more effective ways - I can find you the websites I started on, if you're interested. Doesn't matter if you have a DSLR or not - understanding the principles will give you better control of a point and shoot, even. You already take pretty good photos of your garden and dogs, so I can't imagine you're as far behind as you would imply.
Shutter speed is what you use when you want to take sharp photos of something in motion. The faster the shutter speed, the sharper the image. This has the unfortunate effect of letting less light in, so generally you'll have to either open the aperture, or bump up the ISO. Or shoot outside in good lighting. A slower shutter speed will add blur into the photo as something wanders past. This is how landscape photographers "smooth out" water scenes like waterfalls, rocky rivers, or oceans. You can also use a REALLY long exposure time to eliminate any humans walking past a building, if you're clever.
Aperture is going to control the "depth of field". This is the band of sharp quality you see in macro photos a lot. Portrait mode on camera plays with this setting - that's why the humans in the foreground are in focus, but the background is softer. The wider the aperture, the less will be infocus, or the tighter the area. The smaller the aperture, the larger the focused area. However, the smaller the aperture, the less light gets in, and vice versa, so you'll have to bump the ISO or shutter speed to compensate. What you want to do in the photo will determine how you adjust those settings. Of course, there are filters you can add to help with some of this.
A point and shoot camera will have settings for "landscape", "macro", "portrait", and all that, and will come with predetermined settings that adjust a bit based on what happens when the autofocus latches on to your subject and the light-metering is processed. Most DSLR's have these 'auto' settings as well, but they're nowhere near as fun as using Manual mode.
How much you can adjust those settings will be determined by the lens you use. An f/1.8 lens like Alex mentioned is going to give you hella DoF control - lots of bokeh, if you want it.
There are a ton of tutorials for how to use your camera in more effective ways - I can find you the websites I started on, if you're interested. Doesn't matter if you have a DSLR or not - understanding the principles will give you better control of a point and shoot, even. You already take pretty good photos of your garden and dogs, so I can't imagine you're as far behind as you would imply.
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