Nevermind the Stragglers

What do you think of letting the supposed subject of a photo go soft

like this, leaving the focus concentrated on the environment? It was

purposeful when shot, but does it look like a mistake now?

Mistake? What's that? No mistakes here, just different visions. Imagine 3-4 such heads evenly spaced in front of the greenhouse; or her whole body with her feet right on the bottom border; or drop down so her head is in the negative space above the house (If she has darker clothes on); or her standing inside in the window (some creep for ya); Or just the house, shot as sharp as you can get it, with the antennae/ventstacks looming...

The more risks you take onsite, the more choices you have later. Oft-cited here, my two favorite Rules of Good Photography: 1)Take a lot of pictures, 2)Only show people the good ones.

Generally speaking, depite my ideas above; foreground soft, background sharp is not recommended. And highlights should not bleed off the edge. Generally speaking.

Antennae. Now I can't stop looking at this as a giant bug chasing her :)

The tilted vents are a big part of any potential success of this image. I think that generally it is a fine image. My problem with it is that this woman has such an interesting look about her that I find myself really wanting to see her in full detail. On the other hand, if it were a person standing with their back to me, I might not mind the lack of focus. In fact it might lend an air of mystery.