Chris,
You are doing great keep it up!
The picture above "dametalyl7" could look just right if depth of field is increased. The aperture used just dose not do justice to the image. You need to use Aperture Priority mode to get it right instead of fully Auto as you did while taking the image. You used F4.5 but this kind of image to look great from foreground to bacground will need smallest aperture you can mage depending on the availability of light i.e. F16 or higher number