Sometimes in still photography in order to capture the way the moment felt you have to show motion. By using a long exposure, 1/2 a second , I was able to convey the high energy of the music that was being played along with the movement of the musician. In photography breaking the rules can open you to more creative images. In this case shooting a long exposure without a tripod of a moving subject was breaking the rules. LynnFreeny.com 
While most people get on their cell phones while driving home after work, I am using my camera. Don't worry I only shoot when I am setting still or when someone else is driving. In this image I caught a reflection of the setting sun at a red light. Remember I alway have my camera ready for recording interesting things I see in everyday life. LynnFreeny.com
Several cold nights along a body of water in the mountains cause some wonderfully beautiful layers of ice to form. This was shot early in the morning in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at a temperature hovering around zero. The repeated curving lines in the ice help add a rhythm to the photograph.LynnFreeny.com
I am alway thinking of different angles and ways of looking at things. I think eye level is boring for most photographs. Why? Because most people spend the majority of their lives viewing the world eye level. That is why I enjoy aerial views of subjects. It is about as far away from eye level as you can get. This is a view of the Great Smoky Mountains surrounding Chilhowee Lake in the early morning hours giving a surreal color pallet along with fog. LynnFreeny.com
Reflections are one of those elements that most people ignore. As a photographer, reflections are great for adding interest to your images. In this image I pulled up in a parking space and I noticed this great reflection. Keep in mind when shooting reflection it is best to use a f-stop of 16 or 22 to get as much depth of field as possible. Why? Because your field of focus can go from close up to infinity. LynnFreeny.com
I was up on Cadillac Mountain in Maine waiting for the sun to raise when I noticed some interesting ice patterns on the ground. The temperature was close to zero with a very strong wind that was hard to ignore(serious wind chill). Because of the melting and refreezing , layers of ice formed around these small pieces of grass. What normally would have been a small puddle of water was now beautiful patterns of ice thanks to the freezing weather. LynnFreeny.com
I went to swim practice tonight to capture some images for my files. Swimming is my favorite sport to photograph. Why? Because there is fast movement, reflections from the water and unexpected stop action results, swimming is great fun to shoot. There are a few things to keep in mind when covering swimming with your camera. A 80 to 200mm telephoto zoom helps you get close without getting wet. Using a shutter speed of 1/250 or faster will help you stop the action.In this image my shutter speed was 1/250 with the zoom lens set at 200mm. LynnFreeny.com
When cold air mixes with warm air at sunset the sky becomes a beautiful array of colors and shapes. This also means a possibility of very strong storms. In this image of the mixing of warm and cold air I found out later their was a tornado warning. Be careful!LynnFreeny.com
Cades Cove is one of my favorite places. When it snows in the Cove it becomes a wonderful place to photograph. This is a Cantilevered Barn found mostly in the East Tennessee area.LynnFreeny.com 
Snow in the Great Smoky Mountains makes winter temperatures more bearable. Snow can change a colorless landscape into a winter wonderland. By using a large format camera I was able to capture as much detail as possible.LynnFreeny.com
I like to use a 50mm 1.4 lens for portraits because of its large lens opening . In this image I am shooting at f-stop 1.4 which creates a very shallow depth of field. LynnFreeny.com
Shadows can be one the most interesting elements when included in a photograph. Many times people do not seem to see shadows. Evidence of this shows up in paintings done by amateurs. Without shadows objects look flat. In this image the bikes are somewhat boring but because of the shadow I was blown away by the subject. LynnFreeny.com
The icy river in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a wonderful subject for photography. By using a tripod with a large format camera was able to capture detail and motion. A long exposure of 1 second helped show the movement of the water. The large format helped with the fine detail.LynnFreeny.com
In the winter waterfalls freeze and melt and refreeze. This natural cycle can repeat itself many times to form some of the most beautiful but natural ice forms. I like to think of them as a kind of abstract sculpture. In this image in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park the deep blue winter sky reflects off the ice.LynnFreeny.com
It has to be very cold for several days to cause a waterfall to freeze. This image is a closeup of a frozen waterfall. As I was looking for interesting details in the ice, I noticed as I moved at different angles the colorful reflections varied in intensity. I spent 30 minutes just searching for that angle that would reflect the most color from the surrounding environment. LynnFreeny.com
I was photographing a concert at a church when I noticed the glow of the evening light through the windows. A good rule of thumb is to always look around for things of interest when you have a camera, even on assignment. These images that I take for myself are usually my favorite.LynnFreeny.com
When I am in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park one of my favorite places to be is along a stream. In this case the temperature was close to zero causing ice patterns to form over the moving water. These abstract lines and curves were paper thin. As the sun rose and lit the delicate surface of the ice, the beautiful design quickly disappeared into the moving water of the stream. The dominant blue tint was caused because the ice was in the shade.LynnFreeny.com
Time of day can make or break an image. In this case the time was evening and the cloud cover was beginning to break up. With the help of Adobe Photoshop I saved the red channel and discard the green and blue channels. This is the same as using a no. 25 red filter with black and white film. LynnFreeny.com
This portrait was taken before the wedding. I wanted to capture the expression that reveals the feeling a groom has before the wedding. In this case confidence seem to be reflected in his expression. The evening light helps add a warm tone to the image. By using a 50 mm lens at f-1.4, I was able to put the the background out of focus. His position to the far left helps make the composition more dynamic. LynnFreeny.com
This is a stop action sports image. But it also shows a small amount of motion blur in the swimmer. The cropping and an unlevel camera angle add tension and force the viewer to look toward the right hand corner at the swimmer. Yes is is OK to hold the camera in an unlevel position.LynnFreeny.com
Shadows are always under rated. Driving on a back road I saw this tree in the snow. I thought the shadow looked like the roots of the tree. The results can be amazing when shadows are added to a composition.LynnFreeny.com
As I walked with Charlie my dog this morning I captured an interesting sky. I moved to an angle so the trees would be in the lower right side of the composition. This helped balance the image with the trees pointing toward the sky. The repeated shapes of the smaller clouds in the upper part of the sky gave a rhythm to the image. LynnFreeny.com
I was standing next to a small stream in Cades Cove in 15 degree weather looking for an interesting subject. Along the stream I found this tiny plant that had caught some of the recent snow fall. I used a telephoto lens with an extension tube attached to my camera. With a sturdy tripod, I positioned the camera so the small stream in the shadow would help define the snow covered plant. I determined my exposure using the sunny 16 rule which states that on a sunny day your exposure will be f- 16 with a shutter speed that matches your ISO. Because I was using an extension tube I had to add one stop more to the exposure.LynnFreeny.com
Having a camera while riding in a car can be fun. I took this image while passing a car on the interstate. I was not driving but riding. I used the watercolor filter in Adobe Photoshop to give the image more texture and color saturation. I used a fast shutter speed of 1/500 to freeze the car's movement. I simplified the composition by cropping in tight with a telephoto lens. Remember you do no have to show everything. In fact when composing a photograph only include what is interesting.LynnFreeny.com
This image is an example of my favorite winter weather in the mountains. It is the day after a snow storm. The sky is clear, the air is cool, and the sun is warm. Using the 25 red filter with black and white film I was able to darken the blue sky. The size of the moon was made visible with the aid of a telephoto lens. This is Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is very steep trail in the summer and a very slippery and dangerous trail after a winter snow.LynnFreeny.com
Winter is always interesting in the Southern Appalachians. From frozen fog to heavy snow storms the world of dense green vegetation of summer seems so far away. When shooting snow remember that all light meters are calibrated to 18% gray. What that means is the meter in your camera tries to give you an exposure that is mid gray. Snow in the mountains is beautiful because of the bright white color it has. Gray snow is kind of like gray teeth. It is not very attractive. I always tell my photography students that they are much smarter than their high tech matrix light meters. With all of this said the best way to capture white snow with your camera is to expose your film 1 stop more than the meter suggest. LynnFreeny.com
In the winter heavy fog is very common in the Southern Appalachians . In the higher elevations, when it is below freezing ,this winter fog coats everything in its path. In this image the valley below had fog but no hoarfrost. As I went up the mountain and got to a higher elevation I found this winter wonderland scene with hoarfrost covering everything in site.LynnFreeny.com
Sometimes we have ice storms in the Southern Appalachians. These storms usually start out as light rains that turn into frozen precipitation that coats everything with ice. Beautiful! It is an opportunity for photographers but dangerous for travel by car. I prefer foot power in this type of weather with camera in tow. I found these red berries on one of those ice storm walks.LynnFreeny.com
As I walked Charlie on a full moon night the light from the moon was so bright very strong shadows from the trees were visible. Yes I used a heavy tripod and a long exposure to record this moment. LynnFreeny.com
Portraits of children and babies can be very rewarding. The openness and innocence that shows in their eyes is always worth capturing. In this image I positioned myself eye level with the baby. This meant that I had to sit on the floor. When photographing children it is important to get at a low level. At my own eye level I would have missed the eyes and gotten a picture mostly of the top of the child's head. I also used a 50mm lens set at f 1.4 so the background would be out of focus. LynnFreeny.com
I got a chance to see a very professional local Christmas play at Pellissippi State in Knoxville Tennessee. Southern Kids In Theatre performed the musical "Annie". This image of a snow scene makes me feel cold thanks to the actors and snow effects. In order to make snow look like snow you have to use a very fast shutter speed. Using a slow shutter speed will make snow look like rain because the snow flakes form lines of motion.LynnFreeny.com
I was on my walk with Charlie ( my dog) this morning in the fog. Suddenly the sun started to rise, and we became surrounded by this golden light. The large oak framed by this light was perfect. I love the unplanned images. Being in the right place at the right time can be great.LynnFreeny.com
In the Southern Appalachians we don't get a display of the northern lights but we do get wonderfully moon lit winter clouds. This is just out side my house in the middle of the road. The moon is hidden by the drifting clouds. Without this full moon the clouds would almost be invisible . LynnFreeny.com
Night photography can be magical. With a heavy tripod and the use of long exposures you can capture some beautiful images. This is Blount County Court House in Maryville Tennessee at Christmas. The exposure was 5 seconds at f-5.6 at ISO 100. LynnFreeny.com
Portraits are interesting because I am always trying to capture just the right look that shows someones personality. That is not so easy because you are recording very complex information into a two dimensional glance so to speak. In this case the bride shows a very confident attitude just before her wedding. I used a 50mm lens set at f-1.4 . At such a wide opening the background gos totally out of focus eliminating any distractions.
I never hunt or stock wildlife. If I get an image of an animal it is because I just happened to be in the right place. For this image I was at a stop sign so my car became a sort of blind. I always have my camera and it just happened to have a 200mm lens was mounted on it. One shot out the window and it was over, the hawk disappeared into a near by wooded area.LynnFreeny.com
Night traffic is always interesting as long as you are not stuck in it. I used a very long exposure to capture the movement of the traffic. The white lines are the vehicles moving toward the camera with head lights showing. The red lines are the tail lights of traffic going away from the camera. The camera was set at f-16 to give me a long exposure of 7 seconds with the ISO set at 100. Notice how the street lights have a star effect caused by the tiny lens opening of f-16. LynnFreeny.com
This is the CSX Rail Tunnel at Harper's Ferry, West Virgina. I set up my tripod and composed the image, then out of no where this rail road worker starts walking out of the tunnel. The figure helped give the photograph scale and also showed movement as he walked toward the camera. Also the comparison of small figure and the huge dark tunnel opening helps give the image some tension and depth. LynnFreeny.com
Winter can be a very colorless season in the Southern Appalachians. With the absents snow and ice subjects look dull and uninteresting. I had that kind of thinking going on in my mind when I came upon these wonderful shadows in Cades Cove. Cropping so the sky did not show helped simplify the composition and keep the attention on the magnificent shadows. LynnFreeny.com
I saw this lone tree and thought it would make an interesting image. I wanted to show how different this hardwood looked among these every greens. I took the color away from the tree and the background sky. This helped the green plants standout even more. The actual title of this image is "Lonely" . LynnFreeny.com
I like to find things that remind us of the past. This is painted on a wall at the former J and K. I used photoshop to mix black and white with color. The patterns of weeds in the parking lot show how nature is beginning to take over. LynnFreeny.com
I was walking Charlie ( my dog) tonight and saw this moon rise. I headed back to my house to get my tripod and a long lens. With an exposure of about 1/2 second at f-2.8 I was able to show detail in the sky. The air is so clear that the shadowed side of the moon is visible. LynnFreeny.com
Even in winter the really good swimmers are still hard at work. I was taking photographs of a year round swim team today. I used the rule of thirds for my composition. By placing the swimmer on the left side of the frame, I was able to give space in front which helps give room for the the forward movement in the image. This same arrangement works well with any fast moving objects( cars,running horses). LynnFreeny.com
This image of the setting sun was shot from a moving car. I shot at f-2.8 with a 150mm lens. The sharp focus is on the sun .The telephone lines, street light, and cedar tree are not in sharp focus which helps frame the sun making it stand out in the image.LynnFreeny.com
Animals are great subjects to photography. This horse was shot using a technique called panning. The way you do this is by moving your camera at the same rate of speed as the moving subject using a slow shutter speed. It is kind of like the same thing you would do if you were using a movie camera and following the action.LynnFreeny.com
Fog makes everything look interesting. This image of a street in Knoxville is a good example of what I am talking about. Fog is made up of small water particles that act like millions of tiny mirrors that reflect any light source , in this case the orange street lights. LynnFreeny.com
Snow adds a little extra visual excitement to landscapes. In the image I used a 4x5 view camera with black and white film because a want to capture as much detail as possible. The choice of no color was used to bring out the white shapes the snow made as it covered rocks and trees. This is in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. LynnFreeny.com
Sometimes the sky is the most interesting subject when you are photographing landscapes. In this image the sky caught my attention first then I looked for an interesting ground to go with it. One of the worst ways to frame landscapes is to make equal amounts of sky and ground. The image will be much more dynamic when these two element are not the same. In this image the majority of the composition is the sky.LynnFreeny.com
When shooting pictures of buildings many times the hardest thing to show is scale. By including a familiar object in the composition, it will give your image a reference for scale. In this image people at the bottom of the frame are the familiar objects that show just how large the Washington Monument really is. Using the red channel in Photoshop, I was able to produce a very dark sky that contrasted with the the white monument.LynnFreeny.com
Finding a different angle for a very photographed place is not easy. This stone fence in front of the Capital building in Washington DC helps show a different angle. The strong vertical lines with and repeated shapes from the fence add just the right amount of strength to the composition. LynnFreeny.com
