I'm with Charles on this. Also, come back from the subject just a couple of inches - that will give you a little more depth of field. You can always crop and enlarge the bit you want later, in one of the editing packages.
Which reminds me, I'd better crack on with the photography guide, it might help for when people need to post good pics of their entries for the Group Build. I'll try to get it finished within the next couple of weeks.