Must say Suzi, I also love shallow DoF - especially on flowers - and I never get tired of playing with it, or looking at shots with it! I think it's great!

xx

Think one of the things that makes photography so interesting is seeing things as others see them and it is hard to criticise anything without knowing for an absolute fact what the artist is aiming for.

As this has gone from the generalised to the specific I will join in, is it out of focus, well not for me, some of it is but there is an area that is not soft. I would have focused on the flower centre if I had taken it but I did not and it's your shot so you will focus to get the effect you wanted.

I love the colour be it PP or natural it suits the subject, not as I would have done it but that is beside the point it is a beautiful and pleasant image to view and it is yours.

That is EXACTLY what I asked Moonie - I haven't even offered a critique of this picture because I wanted to establish a fact from you first - i.e, where the point of acuity is/was.

You may know what I mean as you use a D300 - you can thumb scroll the in-camera focus points individually and directly onto any part of the image before taking the photo. This becomes the point of acuity rather than where the lens is pointing (focusing) - if you get what I mean. I didn't suggest it was OOF - but it has a 'soft' , i.e (gentle) feel to it.

Misunderstanding are common on forums so dont worry about it.