Raindrops on Roses

I have had a large version of this image on my 27″ monitor for 24 hours now (you can see the Gallery version here). It’s so luscious, so ridiculously beautiful that I can’t take my eyes off it. There is some corner of my psyche that is soothed and healed just by the light from this image. I don’t care how many clichés about whiskers on kittens are invoked!

I think the selective focus, where only a very small portion of the picture is sharp, is absolutely essential to its success. (This photograph was shot from maybe 3 inches away, at f/3.2 and 1/250 sec.) I am grateful to my Macro Elmarit for reminding me of the joys of shallow depth of field.