Painted Hydrangea

I know that I am not taking enough time with this "macro" thing yet (I will, I will), but am I totally off base?  This is a hydrangea that a friend of mine spray painted gold.  I manually focused the lens at the closest  distance - about a foot- and then moved the camera closer and farther to find when it was in focus.  I find it incredibly difficult to hold the camera still.  I know that  I will fall in love with this lens, but I am really overwhelmed with my new camera.  In fact, this is my old camera.  Aperture was 2.8.  Is that part of my problem?