My apologies, i still dont see what you are talking about, but as I was looking at it again I did notice some 'haloing' around the reflection of the trees on the hood which is bothering me now. I know what stopped down means, unfortunately I am still only on 'P' mode on my XTi and have not graduated, if you will, to 'M' mode yet.
I'm excited though, tomorrow is the first day of school. Photography 101, here i come! Hopefully by semesters end i will completely understand what you are trying to tell me here. Thank you again though for your time.
Trying it from an artist's perspective (hope this helps)
As things fade into the distance, they become less detailed and even blur together if far enough away from the viewer. This is perspective, and makes all the difference between a square, with a triangle on top with a window, door, and stick-figure family (all smiling of course); and an intricately sketched capitol building replete with gorgeous and believable detail.
What happened in this picture was that you skewed perspective by making the background a uniform blur. Once this is done, the car looks much more 2-D than it would otherwise if you had let the lens handle the Depth of Field.
Try this...take the same picture with your lens wide open. Depending on the lens you are shooting with, there is an excellent chance that the blur will be taken care of for you.
Hope it helps....mcavjame is an amazing photographer and this, I believe is what he/she is trying to say...
Love the experimentation...playing in the sandbox is the only way to learn IMO.