Out of focus foregrounds are only artistic when the elements that are blurred become a haze of color. As soon as elements near the camera are definable, they need to be sharp. In order to get this kind of color haze in the foreground, you need to use a long telephoto lens -- 250mm in this case -- and position the camera so the lens is just a few inches from the foreground. I was shooting in a greenhouse at Keukenhof Gardens and the tulips near the camera were only 3 or 4 inches away. I used a large lens aperture, of course (f/5 here), and because I was shooting virtually wide open I had enough light to use a shutter speed of 1/640 with 400 ISO. This meant that hand holding the camera was possible, freeing me up to be mobile and therefore very creative. I could move all around looking for that perfect composition without having to set up the tripod every time.
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