hey rogerlee, thanks for sharing the pics. your fish and frog look to be fat and happy.
does your camera have a macro mode? looks like you may have been zoomed in as well?
More light helps too even a desk lamp pointed through the top.
cheers glaive zoomed in to much and when i took the pic it looked fine till i put it on screen also our digi cam is out of date so will be investing in a new one
When zooming only use the optical zoom, not the digital.
Read the manual for the manual mode.