shoot with white shutter photography contest. for winning this month's contest, jamie wins a $10 starbuck's gift card from white shutter photography.  jamie shoots on a nikon D40 with a nikkor 50mm f/1.4 prime lens (philan's favorite lens).  about her photo, jamie says, "I love to use the various murals or textured/brick walls in downtown Naperville for backdrops when taking portraits of my kids. I shot the portrait of my daughter the day after she turned 6, along with a bunch of others. I use Lightroom 2 (version 2.7) to process my photos or convert to black and white. Like most other mama's, I love natural light. I also prefer shooting at wide open apertures." there are a few things that stand out in my mind about this image, and why i think it is a great example of a BOKEH image.  the subject is faced directly into the camera.  this puts both of her eyes on the same plane allowing them both to be completely in focus at the same time.  her face is in focus as well and there is no distortion at all.  the background of the image falls off immediately at the edge of her hat and hair.  the other thing about the background is even though the bricks are completely out of focus, the still draw your attention back to the subject.  excellent portrait jamie. a bit about the lens choice...since jamie is shooting a 50mm prime lens (FX lens) on a DX frame, it gives the same effect as shooting with a 85mm lens, the portrait lens.  her facial features remain very proportional and you get no distortion around the edges of the image. i will send a message out to everyone as soon as i receive our next theme from jamie.  and remember, if you are a photographer at any skill level, come and join our facebook group, it is a lot of fun. here's jamie's winning image... ">