Honey, I Blurred The Background (and the foreground, too...)

I think there's no question that one of the funnest things about photography along with lighting and stuff is working with depth of field. It truly separates an SLR boy or girl from the point and shooters.

And I think most devotees of photography will admit to being lured by the beauty of seeing a subject pop from the background in such a dramatic way that they will probably at first go nuts and shoot everything at ƒ/2.8 and wider, even when it can be too much of a good thing. The photo of this lovely young subject was one of my earliest semi successes with a portrait featuring depth of field, but at ƒ/1.8, it made for such a narrow plane of focus that the hair closest to the camera was also a bit out of focus. I chose this one because it was the most attractive pose, and she would be most unhappy if I had posted one of the others instead, some of which have more colorful blurred backgrounds. But I think this illustrated the point just fine. Sure, shoot some at ƒ/2.8 and wider, but also do a few with a narrower aperture as well. Regardless, I'd still blow a couple grand on a nice ƒ/1.2 if I had the cash...