Night at the College

Most people think day time is the only good time to do photography. I have found some very boring subjects in the day time are transformed into a dynamic image at night. All it takes to capture interesting scenes at night is a steady tripod and some patience.
I took this photograph tonight on the Maryville College campus about 8:30. A tripod was required because of the long exposure of 1 sec. A star like effect was produced by placing a piece of screen wire in front of the lens. The tree seems to glow, thanks to a street light hidden behind the tree's trunk. LynnFreeny.com

Light in Motion

With long exposures you can show movement. This was a 1/4 of a second exposure. Why is the little girls face so sharp? It was hand held at that slow exposure. You should see some blur because it was not on a tripod. This is what is called a rear shutter flash exposure. Please bear with me while I explain this very simple technique. In rear shutter exposures, at the very end of a long exposure the flash is triggered. The part of the subject that is lit at the end of the exposure, the little girl, is sharp and well exposed. Without the flash you would only see the rotating light she is holding in front of her face. This works best when you have very little existing light, in this case night time. I wanted to show some of her face as the light moved. I started off with 1 second until I worked my way to a faster shutter speed of 1/4 of a second, which was just fast enough to capture half of the revolution of the light, thus not covering up the left side of her face. LynnFreeny.com