32 Before 33: Learn Photography & Valentine's Day Recap (Sort of)

I've never been the type of girl that was overly excited about Valentine's Day. Even when I was younger I thought it was silly for girls to walk around school with all that crap. I mean, what do you do with a teddy bear that has "Valentine's Day 2002" sewn into the foot years after the fact?

Or even in 2003? Do you throw it away? Where does little teddy end up? So I was never a teddy bear or candy girl but I have always loved beautiful red roses. I also really love the inexpensive carnation daisy bouquets you can get at Walmart and the grocery store. They really make my one hundred year old military base housing kitchen look so much better.

Because my husband was sweet enough to buy me a camera for my birthday last week and roses this week for Valentine's Day I thought I'd put the two together. I was initially shooting in auto then I fumbled my way to a menu that allowed you to select some advanced auto options. For these photos I used the "bright photo" setting in my camera and I altered the setting just a tad. (I do realize that photographers will want to know all the numbers behind my pics - I'll start jotting them down to get some feedback from you all.)

I took these pictures in my somewhat dark but bright at the same time kitchen. For the background I used two white poster boards that were positioned in an "L" shape.

I also played around with another setting that allowed the camera to blur the background. The shot below ended up being one of my favorites.

The rest of these pictures have what I assume photogs refer to as noise? (Cause that was a question...) I can't remember what setting these were done on or what I may have done differently but they came out like they had been filtered.

Over the weekend I picked up a tripod. I'm still on the hunt for a wireless shutter. They have been sold out every where that I'm willing to drive to. I may have to break down and order it one on Amazon but I kinda want it right now so I'll try one or two more places before Amazon gets me for $35. 

My ultimate goal is to be shooting in manual mode so I'm trying to ease my way into that from the beginning. I actually took pics of the Valentine's Day dinner I made but I wasn't happy with how they turned out. I made garlic butter salmon, steak and salad. It looked delicious in real life but not in my pics. Any tips for me?