trying to decide which I like better

Here is a picture of my wife...I am trying to decide which I like better decide

i like the first one a lot better.

Thanks Reno

If it is a picture of your wife then inherently its should be the one with her in focus. The front/back or other selective focus I think works better for scenery and is harder to appease the eye when used in portraits that are not trying to accent a specific feature.

I see a picture of your wife and a picture of a basket.

Should be an easy one.

If you're going to have your wife out of focus then realize that the part that is in focus needs to support your subject (who is out of focus). An example might be her wedding ring in focus but her slightly out of focus. Both subjects could be pictures on their own but combined support each other.

Another example if using a basket could be if it were an easter basket (and you could tell that it was an easter basket... ie more in frame) and a child was out of focus (but you could still tell it was a child).

The first one is better since the 2nd one you can't make your wife!

Thanks guys, i see all of your points. Thanks for the help. I was asked to do engagement photos and i like the out of focus idea. So thats why i wanted to see what other people thought.

First one is definitely a lot better.