I have a Canon Rebel Xs. My lens is the standard, crappy 70-300 zoom that does not have any image stabilization. The first flower shot was done with aperature priority and the bottom was shutter priority. I have another shot that I did all manual that got some decent “blurred” backgrounds if you would like to see that one as well. I run each of my shots with a very light “unsharp mask” to grab some detail. Did I do something wrong? Until I get better, I use manual focus and a priority mode. The only time I use all manual is when I have a tripod and I can control all the elements of the picture. I still have plenty to learn :-).
Kirk