Swallowtail Butterfly in Our Garden

I followed several Swallowtail butterflies in our garden.  They flittered to and fro and around several buddleia flowers.  The common name for this flowering plant is Butterfly Bush.  How appropriate.

The background in this picture reminds me of a watercolor painting.  I just might have to add this picture to my portfolio for a future painting.

Anemones in Bloom

My hubby spotted these Anemones in bloom.  I'm looking forward to the next few days as more and more of them open up.  I took this picture using my 85mm lens and compact speed light.  I was waiting for the rain showers to stop and by then it became evening.  Still not a bad time to take pictures.  

My D7000: Closing in on 20,000 pictures

I'm about 1500 pictures shy of turning over my D7k for the second time.  I've only had the camera for 1 year and two months.  I've been taking pictures like a crazy woman.  I'm still learning lots of neat things about my camera.  In July, I learned how to and experimented with shooting in continuous mode.  That was fun!

For the month of August, I will be learning to use my camera in manual  mode.  I still have a lot to learn about taking better pictures.  Learning to look.  Learning about exposure.  Learning more about shutter, aperture, and ISO and how they play together.  My head is already swimming from all the information I've gathered.

Funny.  My FB photo challenge/assignment for the month of August is:  Learning to Look.  I will be sharing and teaching my fellow FB friends...how to take better pictures by learning to look.  This month, they learned about taking pictures based on a theme I gave them.  They also had to think outside the box.  They were really creative in the pictures they took.

The month of August will hold many challenges for me as I progress into becoming a better photographer.  That's my goal.

Relying on My Backup Point and Shoot Camera

I was late starting out this morning, grabbed my shoulder bag and headed to church.  As I entered the church sanctuary I realized the church elders were having a special announcement...our new pastor arrived.  I didn't have my trusty D7k DSLR with me.  I quickly pulled out my Coolpix 7100, set it to Program mode, auto ISO between 100 to 200, and hoped for the best.

I took these from the back of the church.  The church lights were dimmed except for the front platform area. Based on previous experience, any movement would result in a blurred picture:

Here, you can see everyone was still during the praying over our new pastor and his wife.  The CP7100 handled this picture very well as I zoomed in (157mm, f4, 1/4, ISO 200) and composed this shot:

I took this picture during the Children's story skit.  Again, everyone was still and the picture came out reasonably well:

After a few shots, I noticed I was getting blurred pictures from the kids moving around.  Any slight head movement produced a big enough blur in the picture.  I then switched my ISO from 100-200 to Auto High ISO.  I haven't used this setting before and wasn't sure what kind of results I would get.

We had a special sermon presented from one of our youths, Alex.  Alex had the whole congregation involved at the beginning of his sermon.  This picture's ISO was 1600:

Here's another picture taken at ISO 1600.  The kids were moving, but notice there are no blurred body action:

After looking at these pictures and comparing it to ones I've taken with my DSLR, this CP7100 did a great job with the white balance.  My pictures came out brighter as well.  Not as clear or sharp as my DSLR, but good enough to post here and on Facebook.

I'm pretty happy with the results.  I made do with what I had with me.  My Coolpix point and shoot camera didn't let me down.

Using My 50mm Lens: A Picture for Photo Challenge #3

When I came home from work I noticed a Swallow Tail butterfly was flittering around in our front garden.  I grabbed my camera and whatever lens was attached and ran out the door.  This was one of a dozen pictures I snapped.

Check out the lovely bokeh this lens produces:

50mm, f2.8, 1/500, ISO 100

Here are a few more shots of the Swallow Tail:

50mm, f2.8, 1/800, ISO 100

50mm, f2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100

Putting My New 50mm to the Test

My new lens was patiently waiting in its box for my new B+W filter to arrive.  When I purchased the lens I thought I had a 58mm filter laying around.  I was wrong.  I'm that kind of person.  I won't touch a lens unless it has a filter.  So the lens and I waited...until this evening.

I took a few shots inside my house in low light.  Here's the results:

I'm enjoying the bokeh

Flower bouquet

A quick portrait shot

I then took a step outside to see what was blooming and found this beauty:

Lily of the Nile

All it took was 30 minutes of my time and I'm hooked on this lens!  This 50mm f/1.8G lens equates to a 75mm lens on my D7000 camera.  I think this will be a fine portrait lens!

A Multiple Post Day!

I've have two posts today.  Yes, I'm in a chatty mood...read on.

I've also added additional wedding pictures and photography comments to the "A Wedding on Friday" post I did dated July 7th.

Enjoy!