Here is the way I understand digital cameras.
The megapixels of a camera have to do with the size of the finished picture, the bigger the megapixel camera the larger you can print out a quality photo. For instance, my first digital camera was only a 3.2 MP. It did a nice job, but I could only print out 4x6 photos with a professional quality. I've now gotten a couple additional cameras and they range from 5 to 12 MP. The 12 MP I use for taking senior pictures and I am able to print out a poster in professional quality. So the MP you want, really depends on what you want to do with the camera. I work with people that come in to print pictures and they have a fancy dancy 12 MP camera and all they will ever print is a 4x6. I tell them to change it to a smaller MP so they can fit more on their SD card.
The Macro setting is the best setting to put your camera on for close ups. Suppressing the flash is the best way to get true color but to do this you need to have an extremely steady hand or tri pod so you don't move the camera when releasing the shutter.
Something else I do for my photos is use Picnik.com to edit them. You can auto fix quite a bit, plus I use the border to enhance some of my holiday designs. I also use this to make collages for the different events I got to so I can continually update my offerings. (Sorry, a little off topic. I love playing around with digital pictures.
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