Flowers, Rain, Macro Camera Shots

I just bought a new camera, a present to myself for my 60th birthday.  Hooray!  I researched cameras for quite awhile.  Have you ever done that?  Wow, too much information!  Anyway, I narrowed it down to two, the Canon Powershot and the Nikon Coolpix.  I bought the Nikon Coolpix L120 on Amazon.  The reviews were great and it was about $50 less than the Canon.  The Canon has a GPS gadget which I think is a waste.  I actually don't care where I am when I'm taking a picture.  But that's just me.  I found a coupon offered by a local photographer ($35!) for a 3 hour class.  Four people showed up for the class at a beautiful park with flowers, water and a lovely building called the Jewel Box.

I learned how to use some of the settings, but the best thing I learned was how to do macro shots.  I thought I needed to get up close to the subject.  I learned I need to stand a bit further away, press the button down half-way and allow the camera to focus.  I never knew that!  I always  just pressed the button down all the way to take the picture, hoping for the best.  Pushing the button down half-way lets you see icons on the screen that tell you the shot is correct.  Here are two of my favorite shots from my lesson that day:

I'm having a great time learning about my camera!  If you're interested in photography, what type of camera do you use and what are your favorite types of shots?