In the unlikely event that any real photographer or artist is reading this, please skip this entry and come back tomorrow. Today I’m thinking about a baby step I’ve taken in what I consider beautiful in my own images, and it’s ironic that some of my new favorites would have been consigned to oblivion (the computer recycle bin) only last year. I’m just beginning to understand how a soft-focus background can simplify the image and enhance the main subject, as in the half-dozen examples in this gallery (click Next in the upper right corner to move through the images). In the one pictured here, I wanted to show the rainbow of colors in a single spray of crocosmia buds. Wherever I looked there were lots of competing shapes (arcs of other flower stems and multiple sharp-edged green spears of foliage) that detracted from the already complex main idea of the shot. In the past I tended to value a shot in which everything was clear and in focus. By getting close and focusing solely on one part of the scene, I got what suggests a reflection or a double exposure. In the other examples, linked to above, I was pleased by the repeating but hazy shapes in the background. With more expensive camera equipment than my Canon G6, it is easy to get this effect on purpose, but I am slowly figuring out how to increase the likelihood of getting reproducible results with a point-&-shoot camera. Incidentally, the glory of crocosmia is considered to be the violent red of full bloom, in this case the variety Lucifer pictured here. In this image I have not done as good a job of de-emphasizing the background, but you can see how those compact oval buds have unfolded to create quite a show. A self-assignment for next year: capture these blooms without getting all the surrounding trees, rocks, and every blade of grass in dizzying focus.