learning curves

If there is one thing I have learned with a "big" camera..... it is that there is a serious learning curve when you take the camera off "auto".  I am a SLOW slow learner. I know what I want the picture to look like.  I just find it is very hard to get there.

I was told for Mother's Day I should pick out a new lens.  I knew exactly what I wanted.  Something to take macro.  I love macro. I want to see what is beyond the norm. Macro pictures feel quiet and peaceful to me.

This new lens gets really really close! The first picture is a two inch wide flower.

And I love it:

 I l.o.v.e. being able to capture the fuzz on the stems!

 Oh how I miss magnolia trees. This is also a magnolia just different and smaller than the southern kind!

 These wrinkled leaves remind me of a newborn. 

Sorry if that sounds weird.

 These tiny white flowers are the size of my thumb nail.

 Just HAD to try some textures!

 Apple blossom.

The pink one above ( don't you love how I don't even know them names of any of these flowers... I am so garden dumb) is covered in pollen. See it?

So here are my questions for my fellow photo lovers:

How do I reduce the noise? I have never had noise problems until this lens.   I know that ISO is supposed to help but I adjust it and get nothing. 
How do I increase the dof?  I push up the aperture but it doesn't seem to help.  This lens works sooooo differently than my other lens.  I am totally in love but struggling to find the look I want.  I love a shallow depth of field but it is so incredibly narrow that I need to alter it a tiny bit at times just to get my focal point in focus. 

ANY advice or comments are welcome!

I am just learnin' here on the curve!

I am my own worst critic.  The first time I looked through the photos, as usual, I seemed to not like anything.  I think that is because most were not how I envisioned them actually turning out. But when I leave them alone a few days and come back... I find a few that I like.

Hope you found a few you like. *smile*