I mostly use a point and shoot camera, and getting an ‘in-focus/out-of-focus focus’ photo with one of these can  be tricky.  I’ve had fairly good luck shooting flowers by putting the camera on ‘macro’, (designated by a flower icon), and shooting!

Queen Anne’s Lace, in and out-of-focus
Placing my little point ‘n shoot camera underneath these Hellebore flowers resulted in this interesting backlit image.
Two hosta flower buds, one in focus, one out.
Purple is the colour of Easter in Guatemala, and these flowers have obliged, along with the fuzzy out-of-focus background.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/weekly-photo-challenge-focus/