Butterfly at Sunset

The close-up world of the insect along with a setting sun is a winning combination in light and beauty. Usually I get this question when someone looks at this image, "How did you get the sun so big? Did you use Photoshop?" Not Photoshop , no special filter, it was possible because of the laws of optics. When you focus on a very small object (the butterfly) with the sun directly in the background, the actual point of focus will distort the size of the sun. In other words the sun is way out of focus so it balloons out to a much bigger size. Keep in mind any light source that is out of focus range will be larger than life. Those that have to wear corrective lenses for their eyes to see at long distances understand this phenomenon. My daughter likes to take off her glasses at Christmas time in order to see the lights at this exaggerated size. LynnFreeny.com

The Kick

Catching stop action in photography is one of those irresistible parts of taking pictures. I can remember taking basketball pictures for the first time as a kid using a flash to stop the action. The players looked like they were floating through the air like super heroes. I realize now what makes this type of photography so interesting. You are recording something that happens too fast to see. You are recording that small slice of a moment that will never happen again. Timing is critical in sport photography. Using a fast shutter speed ( 1/500) I was able to capture the peek of the movement of the kick along with the ball just before it when out of the frame. Also by using an f-stop of 2.8 that produced a shallow depth of field I was able to isolate my subject. The long narrow cropping of the images was done to help emphasize the horizontal movement of the leg and ball. LynnFreeny.com
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Sunset in Cades Cove

Sunsets are one of those wonderful things that happen only once a day. Why they are so colorful is very interesting. Sunlight is made up of red, green, and blue light waves. Blue light waves are shorter than red ones. During the day the sunlight passes through less moisture and dust in the atmosphere than it does in the evening or morning making the shorter blue light waves more visible. When the sun is closer to the horizon line (morning or evening) the longer red light waves are seen because of the increased moisture and dust the light must travel through. Remember that the best sunsets usually happen when there are clouds in the sky that reflect these warm light waves. LynnFreeny.com

Red Barn in Morning Mist

When you ask a realtor what is the most important thing they will say" Location, Location, Location." When posing the same question to an outdoor photographer the answer might be "Time of day,Time of day, Time of day. "
The red barn seems to glow with the early morning light. The characteristics of light at this time of day are increased saturation and better detail. The human eye sees a contrast ratio of 10,000 to 1 where as film records 1,000 to 1 at best. What does this all mean? When what you are shooting looks high contrast to you it will be even higher in contrast when film records it. This is one of the reasons time of day is so important. Morning and evening light is much softer and forgiving than the rest of the day. The only exception to this is a cloudy day which produces soft light. LynnFreeny.com

Mountain Man

In portrait photography less means more. To really reveal a personality, a quick natural expression works well. Using a long lens (in this case 200mm) helps the subject feel more comfortable because of the long physical distance between the subject and the camera. Also, a long lens is much more flattering than a wide angle lens when you are photographing people. The use of a large lens opening put the background out of focus. Otherwise tree limbs or other objects will look like they are growing out of someone's head, not good unless you are shooting for Ripley's Believe It or Not. LynnFreeny.com

Sun Surrounded by Thunderheads

On our way back today from playing in the river in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park the sky suddenly caught my eye. It was so interesting everybody in the car was saying "Hurry hurry you are going to miss it" as I pulled over to a safe place. Using a 300 mm lens I took a few shots then the sun disappeared behind the huge thunderheads never to be seen again this evening. What really helps in high pressure times like this is a total familiarity with your equipment so you can react more intuitively and not get slowed down by the technical end.
LynnFreeny.com

Lightning in Orlando

I thought by posting this image it might give us some storms in our area because we need rain.
Some people look at my photos of lightning and say,"Wow you sure are quick with a camera to catch that!" Well guess what, it is the opposite of what they think. Lightning shots are captured by some of the slowest shutter speeds. By using a tripod and the B (bulb) setting on your shutter speed ,the lightning takes a picture of itself so to speak. In this photograph I held the shutter open long enough until the lightning flashed then I ended the exposure. I had the lens set at f-5.6 and the exposure was determined by the lightning itself. By the way, I was on the top floor of a tall hotel shooting through a window. LynnFreeny.com

Weathered Vine

Sometimes you just have to slow down to find an image. I was walking along a trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and it happened. I got "photographers block". My vision was drawing a blank on what to shoot so I sat down in the middle of the trail. I started thinking what one of my college art professors might say at this moment of creative block. It came to me , limit my search for something interesting within this small area that I had arbitrarily picked. As I looked around there it was. This small vine with these beautiful curving lines that reminded me of a pen and ink drawing. By using a small lens opening I was able to isolate the vine from the rest of the somewhat chaotic forest floor. LynnFreeny.com

Portrait in a Field

Portrait photography is fun and challenging. You and your subject must find a comfort zone. Putting the the person at ease by getting to know who they are and finding a familiar place to shoot is helpful.
In the case of this image the photo shoot was on location at a farm near the sisters' house. The mother was beside me watching as I worked which was a big plus to the girls comfort with the activity. Something to keep in mind when shooting people is they are usually not actors or professional models so shoot lots of images to get that perfect expression.
I think one of the best location portrait photographers of all time is Arnold Newman. He was the master of his location and the person he was photographing. Bringing these two elements together will improve your portraits. LynnFreeny.com

Princess the Cat

Our cat has a little problem. His name is Princess. That's right Princess is a he. When we got him as a little kitten we were told he was a she so my kids named him Princess. The name has stuck because my oldest said she alway wanted a cat named Princess( she wouldn't go for the name Prince or Purple Rain).
The detail that you see in this photograph was captured by placing a single strobe bounced off a white umbrella at a 90 degree angle from the camera. This is a great example of why I seldom use an on camera flash straight on for my lighting. Better options are bouncing the light off a wall or ceiling or just taking the flash off the camera. Using the flash straight on produces very harsh light and eliminates shadows causing a very artificial look to pictures. Remember light is one of the most important factors when it comes to photography. As a photographer you can not work without light. LynnFreeny.com

Bald River Falls

I need a refreshing and cool image that will take me away from this brutal heat that seems to have no end this summer.
Bald River Falls is a very large waterfall but I chose to pick a small but interesting part of the falls using a telephoto lens. There are two ways to describe what a long lens can do for you, compact information and isolate areas. Both of these effects are helpful when you are trying to simplify your composition. Using a tripod enabled me to use a slow shutter speed of 1/2 a second. You may ask why such a slow shutter speed on a sunny day? To show the motion of the water requires a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower. The slower the shutter the more motion you will see on film. LynnFreeny.com

Church on a Hill

Black & white photography seems to add some kind of magic to our world. It simplifies things into shades of gray without the interference of that very loud element, color. This church got my attention because of its high perch that makes it seem like it was looking over the small town like a guardian angel,with the dark clouds in the sky representing evil. When I was recording this scene on film it reminded me of an Ansel Adams photograph titled "Mormon Temple, Manti, Utah". I used a 25 red filter to add contrast to the sky. LynnFreeny.com

Suday Afternoon Nap

I feel like as a photographer I am just an observer that can share what I see with others. I guess I never got over that stage of " look mommy look!" I just laid down on the couch for a Sunday cat nap and was rudely interrupted by the interesting shadow. I had to get my camera out and capture this fleeting moment to share. A photographer's work is never done. I love it! LynnFreeny.com

MailBox Morning

It is a funny thing to think how many things we just walk by and never observe. I have walked by this mail box many times and never noticed anything, even in the warm early morning light. This morning as I walked Charlie it hit me like a ton of bricks. I first saw the red flag contrasted against the black that seemed to scream at me. The second thing I observed was the heavy dew that was running down the mailbox. The third thing I saw was the warm reflective light of the morning sun. Without that last element the image would have lacked the ability to keep my interest. One good lesson I learned from this image is never take anything for granted even a boring mail box. LynnFreeny.com

Swimmer at Mid Stroke

It has been so hot and dry I could not help myself. It seems the only way to cope with the high temperatures is to submerge most of your body in water.
Swimming is one of my favorite sports to shoot. I have noticed that I can capture a moment that is normally lost when observing the event live or recorded on video.
In this image I got at a low angle close to the surface of the water. This insured that my background would be water without any distracting elements. Also by getting low it helps the viewer to feel close to the action. A long lens (200mm) was used to bring the action close enough to fill the frame. A shutter speed of 1/500 helped freeze the action. One more thing, this is one of The Flying Dolphins looking very mosquito like . LynnFreeny.com

New River Gorge Bridge in Infrared

I wanted to post this infrared image so I can explain a little more about this strange and different way of capturing our world. When shooting film or digital the results are close to the same. The biggest difference is the process is much simpler when using a digital camera.
This image was shot with an Olympus C-2000 Z with a IR filter in front of the lens. The amazing thing about this camera is the fact that you can see the infrared image on the screen before you have even released the shutter. I like to preview before I decide to shoot the exposure. You must use a tripod and a very large f-stop because there is not much light going into the camera. When you look through the IR filter with your eye it looks black.
Be careful because when I first started shooting this way I thought everything looked cool and forgot to be an artist and did not think through what I was capturing. Happy shooting! LynnFreeny.com

Red Barn and Clouds

I enjoy black & white as well as color photography. Usually I can make a decision whether my subject is a black and white or color subject. One way of making that type of decision is to evaluate your image by asking the question is color or tone a dominant theme of the subject. I love the way Ansel Adams captures all of those gray tones in his black & white images. A good way to know if you have the best tonality you possible can get is to look at your image and see if you have absolute black and absolute white with many grays in between.
My favorite color photographer is Jay Maisel. His use of color in his images causes the viewers to look at color in a new a interesting way. What is a successful color photograph? Can this image keep your attention without the color? If no is the answer do not hesitate, go for color.
Let's get back to the image at hand. I kind of threw out the rules on this image. I had to have the red barn but I knew the giant thunder head behind the barn would look much better in black & white. With Photoshop I was able to get my cake and eat it too. I know it does not seem fair. It is kind of like using photo steroids but as an artist you can set your own rules. I wonder how many painters use blue for their sky when it was really gray at the time they were painting. It is a brave new world for photographers. Don't be afraid! LynnFreeny.com

Early Morning Walk

I walk through my neighborhood every morning with my dog Charlie and a camera. One of my biggest fears is not having a camera when I see something interesting. I guess some people think I am waiting on the aliens to land so I can get that one shot. In reality I spend most of my time looking and enjoying interesting light, shadows, patterns and subjects that make good images. I never take time off from looking ( well maybe when I am asleep). Artists see the world in more detail than the average person. A good way to explain what I mean by this is when someone walks by a tree; they see a tree when an artist walks by the same tree he or she sees a one of a kind object that has lines, patterns, and shapes. LynnFreeny.com

Tree Shadow On House

Shadows have always intrigued me. When looking at paintings, I can usually tell how much experience the artist has by the shadows in their work. If there is an absence of shadows the artist is a beginner because the ability to observe has not matured enough for them to even notice shadows. Without shadows, objects are flat and things seem to fall off the page visually. Many beginning photographers are also oblivious to shadows and how they effect their images. Understanding shadows is the beginning of understanding light, which is the most important element of photography. Without light, photography can not exist. Many inexperienced photographers try to light subjects with a direct flash on their camera which for the most part eliminates all shadows. This gives the image a very unnatural look. Shadows have different characteristics; in the morning and evening, shadows are softer containing some detail, whereas at high noon shadows are very dark with no detail. LynnFreeny.com

Interesting River Rock

I always have a camera with me. I love to find things when I am not out just to take pictures. In this case I was at a birthday party that just happened to be in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park( my favorite place for photography) . The party was alongside a gentle flowing stream with rocks that almost looked streamlined from the wear of the constant flow of the water. My wife saw it first. A rock within a rock as if one rock cradled the smaller one. My first thought was to fill the frame with the unusual site. As I thought more about the composition the more I realized in order to tell the story of these very worn rocks the river must be included. Positioning the rock to the left helps give a directional flow for the water in the image. LynnFreeny.com

Charlie The Wonder Dog

Charlie is my walking buddy every morning. He expects me to crawl out of bed at 6 am and if I don't he will complain with high pitched cries that rival any alarm clock. We got him from SmallBreed Rescue of East Tennessee . Yes I carry my camera on our walks and hope for some good light or any light. This portrait was not easy because when Charlie is on his walks his nose is always on the trail of other animals. He had just started sniffing around in some tall grass when I noticed that he had collected grass seeds all over his face. The light was at a nice low angle which helped light his face producing detail. When shooting portraits the eyes should always be sharp. I always focus on the eyes first when shooting animals or people. LynnFreeny.com

High Noon

I could not help myself. I had to capture the thing that seemed to be making life miserable for everybody. So despite the fact that high noon is a bad time to shoot outdoors I looked at all the interesting cloud patterns and the searing sun and saw something I liked. In order to get the nice star pattern from the sun it is necessary to set your lens at a very small f-stop. In this case my lens was set at f- 22. This is an image that I saved the red channel in order to get the dark sky that contrast well with the clouds. I can still feel the heat when I look at this photograph.
LynnFreeny.com

Swimmer's Stroke

We are still having some really hot weather so here is another swimming image to help cool things down. Catching any interesting movements in swimming takes timing and fast reaction. Do not be afraid to take lots of exposures when doing action sports. The more you shoot of any subject gives you better odds of success. In the case with this image the evening light helped by adding rim lighting on the swimmers arm and a warm color temperature. The composition helps give room for the swimmer as she heads forward. Having the composition run off the page at the top adds some tension. It was shot at a f-stop of 2.8 which produced a very shallow depth of field causing the arm to be the most prominent element in the photograph. Do not forget this is one of the Flying Dolphins. LynnFreeny.com

Submerged Swimmer

As you see I am keeping the theme swimming because of the heat. This swimmer seems to be imitating an alligator during warm up before a swim meet for the famous Flying Dolphins. Well in my home town they are famous. Using a long lens on your camera helps you to focus on the small details of an event no manner how chaotic. This team has about 200 swimmers and they have meets with other teams that have about the same number of swimmers. This many swimmers plus coaches, parents, and fans adds up to a beehive of activity that can seem chaotic to outsiders or even photographers. The best way for me to find peace and tranquility is to look at this world through my telephoto lens that seems to pluck small but important parts from this complicated scene. LynnFreeny.com

Swimming Toward the Shadows

It is so hot today that all I feel like posting are swimming images. Swim meets are one of my favorite events to cover. The elements that seem to make it so interesting are reflecting water, fast action and vibrant colors. You can not be shy when covering sporting events. What I mean by that is the fact that if you want the best angles and want to catch the action you have to move around and even sometimes get in undignified positions to get the shot. The most boring angle is eye level because we spend our whole adult life seeing things at eye level. Small children with a camera get some of the most interesting images just because they see the world at a very low angle. LynnFreeny.com

Summer Morning

The smell of fresh cut hay brings back memories of me and my brother helping haul hay in the hot summer heat for local farmers. I know why neither of us became farmer. I think it is some of the hardest work we had done as young boys. Growing up surrounded by cattle farms has always made me appreciate the beautiful scenery on the back roads in rural areas. I could never pass up places like this one. Early morning moisture in the air helps to reflect the warm color of the sun as it raises. The image is an example of the rule of thirds. The placement of the tree is a use of this rule. To be honest with you I do not use this rule consciously but when I look back at some of my images I see how this rule applies to them. LynnFreeny.com

Sunset on Mt. LeConte

I heard one sarcastic professional photographer tell me that he did not take sunset photographs anymore because they all look the same. I do not know what world he lives in but it is not the same as mine. One of the biggest mistakes most photographers make is leaving before the show is over. What I mean by that is the fact that they put their cameras away and drive off when the sun disappears from site. Some of the most beautiful light happens after the sun disappears from the scene. This is the case in this image taken on Cliff Tops at Mt. LeConte in The GreatSmoky Mountains National Park . If you are going to wait on the light and you are far from your car take a flashlight. It gets really dark in the woods! LynnFreeny.com

West Virginia Victorian House and Clouds

They just don't build houses like this anymore. Victorian houses have a special personality that rivals other styles. Finding this beauty on a steep hill in Morgantown was wonderful. Having a camera to capture it and bring it home with me was priceless. When I first looked at it through my lens I noticed a large cloud formation moving toward the house. I waited until the clouds floated into a position that complimented the rest of the composition. Using a 25 red filter with black & white film made the blue sky dark to create that Ansel Adams looking sky. In digital the same effect is possible by taking an RGB color file in Adobe Photoshop and eliminating all channels except the red channel. lynnfreeny.com

Ballet Dancer

Dance is related to balance and form. Guess what so are the fine arts of painting, sculpture and photography. That is why dance is such a popular subject for artist. As I watched this ballerina Degas's paintings came to mind. In order to get the right exposure my light meter is going to over expose the subject (the dancer) because of the dark background. All light meters are calibrated to 18% gray. What that means is black objects are over exposed to make it close to 18% gray and white objects are under exposed ( dirty snow). The way I metered this subject was to set the exposure 2 stops less than the camera said. Timing is everything when shooting live performances . Capturing the right moment takes practice and anticipation. lynnfreeny.com

Shakespeare On The Square

I think the best place to see plays is outdoors. Being outside seems to always make things feel less formal and much more relaxed. Another advantage of being out is the ability to move around with a camera without disturbing others. On this image of a Shakespeare performer I came in close to include less and simplified the composition forcing the viewer to only look at what I thought was important. I think one of the essentials to successful photography is being very selective of what you include in your frame. Too much information in an image is too much information. What if I had included the audience and some of the sky and another actor on stage.Too much information, make it simple. lynnfreeny.com

Roaring Mountain Stream

When I go to the mountains I always try to visit where water flows. As a kid growing up in the Southern Appalachians summer always meant spending time playing in mountain streams that could chill you to the bone, a wonderful feeling during the dog days of August. To get the right angle for this image a had to jam a tripod against the guard rail of a bridge and hope a car didn't come along. I had to move off this narrow one lane bridge twice because of cars before I was able to capture this 15 second exposure. Notice in order to capture the movement of the water an exposure of 1/15 of a second or slower works well. The slower the shutter speed the smoother the moving water becomes. A very long exposure can cause the moving water to start looking like fog. Weird! lynnfreeny.com