Nikon D800e and casual photography

Everyone is so serious about the new Nikon D800 and the Nikon D800e.  As an amateur photographer, I have the luxury of enjoying my cameras and trying to gain some knowledge and improve my skills by doing even the simplest things.

It is no secret how hot it has been across the nation this summer and I have not been out much taking pictures, certainly not as much as I would like.  So when I saw my D800e sitting on my desk for another weekend I decided to experiment in my own front yard.

We have a ever changing assortment of butterflies that come to the half dozen Spirea bushes in our front yard and I enjoy trying to capture these butterflies as they move from flower to flower.  Getting my D800e and my Nikkor 24-70, I headed out into the yard.

Although a tripod would be better for tack sharp images, I wanted to see if I could catch them in action and went handheld.  Imagine my surprise for twenty minutes work, I came away with this image

Yellow Swallowtail butterfly

The image was shot at an angle over my head and was slightly underexposed.  A few minor tweaks and a crop in Lightroom 4 and I was pleased with my short time in my yard.  Beautiful bokeh from the Nikkor  24-70, soft light because of the angle and the butterfly held still for just a brief second that allowed me to grab this image.

Wow, I thought I had a good shot but when I posted it to my 500PX page, it quickly climbed to the Upcoming page with a score of 93 at the time of this blog.  This is my highest rated image and it brings a real smile to my face.  I have spent hours trying to get an image that would rate this highly and failed miserably.

Enjoy photography, take whatever chances you have to make images and practice, practice, practice.

Until next time, keep shooting!