Dunlin,
Thanks for the reply and interest. To be able to do that, find a flower that you can isolate. Look for them on a sunny day. Find one that has a shadow in the background...and there you go. :-) Try different F-stops. A "short" telephoto lens like I'm using works well. Your own shadow is not in the way when you take the photo because you can stand a little further from it. I try to focus on the petals that are not the closest and not the farthest away...somewhere in the middle.