Miracles really do happen...

It's been years since I've started my quest to achieve better photos and most importantly, photos with a short depth of field. You know, the photos with a beautiful blurry background so you can focus on one part of the photo. They are everywhere I see and I've been reading and buying cameras to help me get there to no avail until today...

I'll let you in on the secret.
1. That blurring effect is called "Bokeh" (pronounced "Boke") and it all comes down to a small aperature or opening in your camera measured by the f-stop. You may recall that I have been referring to my dilema as the "Effing f-stop" in past posts.
2. You cannot control this effect with a point-and-shoot, no matter how nice your point-and-shoot is.
3. You need a dSLR camera ($$) with a really nice "prime" lense ($$$) that doesn't come with the camera. ($$$$)
4. Today I bought a Nikon 3100 dSLR camera and opted for the less expensive 55/f1.4 lense because I've already spent enough on cameras this year and couldn't stomach paying for the really good stuff. That will be for later or for Christmas, whichever comes first.

And I'm very happy to say that I have finally ARRIVED! It took a virtual village of photographer friends and lots of on-line research but I am today the proud owner of a camera that will allow me to take photographs with a blur. In natural lighting. On a digital format. If it wasn't lent, I'd say "Hallelujah".

So to illustrate (or shall we say, add photographs to) my journey, here is a photo with my really nice point-and-shoot camera and one with my effing new camera. :o) Amen. And thanks to everyone who helped me through this process.

An example of an invitation photographed with my new camera

A photograph taken with my point-and-shoot camera