Recommended cameras

[qbie]

Hello, I've been admiring many of the professional-looking photos you all take on here. As much as the camera phones nowadays are very light and convenient and can take some pretty good photos, the thing that still frustrates me the most is not having the ability to manually focus on what I want when the camera sensor keeps thinking I want to focus on something else. I am not very techy, and my only manual camera is a Pentax from long ago when one developed their own film and worked in a dark room, so the only terms I know are pretty much obselete. For those that take close-up shots, is a special (macro?) lens required? Or is there a camera that won't totally break the bank that can still shoot these decently enough without having to switch to another lens? I'm considering investing in a more sophisticated digital camera. At some point I'm sure I will need to learn modern digital photography vocabulary. Thanks for any suggestions.