I have gone out a few times in the last week or two and I have been playing with focal points and lighting. the first photo is of the Yellowstone River. I was out fishing and had a cool sunrise to the east and just wanted to capture the light on the trees while leaving depth down the river channel with out showing a ton of reflective water.

This pic was taken later in the day while birding at Norm's Island. The few leaves on this branch were hanging abnormally lower than all other branches and the light just looked cool. I was only about 1' away from the branch when I took this. This made my background out of focus and darker than when you looked at it with the naked eye. This made the subject easier to focus on.

When I was taking this picture I was having a hard time focusing on the subject through the viewfinder and on the LCD screen. I am hopping you do to. (sorry I had to) I like the way this turned out because the grasshopper and the plant are in focus and have a good angle of light on them.