I took a bunch of rose pictures downtown last week and this one was the only one that came out the way I wanted - with the rose and its leaves in focus, and the background gone all fuzzy. I've found over the years that flowers turn out better if it's not a bright sunshiny day, which this was. It didn't help that there was an intermittent breeze, which caused a number of my attempts to have their subjects cut off at one edge.

ISO: 64
f-stop: 3.2
shutter speed: 1/250.0
focal length: 198mm (digital zoom: 1.0)
macro on
no flash
conditions: mid afternoon, bright sunshine