Originally Posted by Corindaguy
My advice would be to skip the lens, and instead trade the 450D for a top-quality point-and-shoot (e.g. Canon G11). The issues I've underlined above are all about depth of field - if you want the subject and the background in sharp focus, you need a deep depth of field. On a dSLR, than means using a very small aperture, which means either a slow shutter speed (in which case, moving subjects are blurry), high ISO (which means grainy pictures), or an ultrawide lens (like the 10-22mm, which means you won't get the framing you want). Barba mentions landscapes - one point there is that landscape photography which requires a deep depth of field (very narrow apertures) also usually means using a solid tripod, because exposures are long (1/10 - 5 seconds) - those won't work handheld, and certainly not with people as subjects.
The other main factor influencing depth of field is sensor size - the bigger the sensor, the shallower the depth of field (this is why pro portrait photogs use full frame sensors - the effect they want is exactly what you don't like - subject sharp, background as blurred as possible). A point-and-shoot has a significantly smaller sensor than a dSLR - that's an effective way to get more depth of field and maintain good image quality and ease of use (no changing lenses, etc.).
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