Frost on a Window

I love the change of seasons. When someone asks what do I like about summer? I say "fall". And what do I like about fall? I say "winter". The change of seasons gives a photographer different opportunities to capture much more than someone living in the tropics. The Southern Appalachians have a more gentle change in seasons than the northeast or northwest. To me this makes the area seem more friendly when it comes to climate. This is one of the first frosts of fall on a window pane with the brilliant fall colors in the background. The key to making the frost standout is by using an f-stop of 2.8 to help produce shallow depth of field, and by positioning the camera at an angle that shows the sun's morning light reflecting off the frost. LynnFreeny.com

Tree Tunnel

Black and white photography can be much more abstract than color photography because it takes color and turns it to tones. The trees along this road are autumn yellow. With a number 25 red filter over the lens these trees were transformed to a tone close to white. The early morning fog created a very stark white background. The image was cropped to give it a long landscape ratio showing the directional lines of the road,trees,and fence.LynnFreeny.com

Dead Tree in Forest

I love trees because they offer so many interesting photography opportunities. Even in death a tree has a beauty that can not be ignored. This is an image of exposed roots of a hemlock tree that has fallen in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lines on the wood look like a pencil drawing. LynnFreeny.com

Fog Along Foothills Parkway

Fog is a wonderful thing in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. This is one of those rare cases, the opportunity to be above the fog like a bird flying over. I shot this at one of the highest points on the Foothills Parkway in the early morning hours. Under this heavy fog is the small mountain town of Townsend Tennessee. LynnFreeny.com

Fall Colors Along the Little River

I took my camera mounted to my tripod and started walking along the banks of my favorite river in the Southern Appalachians. It is the Little River in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I had my camera on a tripod because I knew the light would be low as I followed the direction of this small but beautiful stream surrounded by very dense vegetation. I wanted to capture the brilliant colors of the surrounding forest along with the same colors reflected in the water. My exposure ended up being around 10 seconds because of the dense tree canopy and a f-stop of 32. F-32 was used to get the depth of field in the picture.LynnFreeny.com

Sun and Fog Through Fall Colors

A photographer's best friend many times is fog. This image reminds me of rock concert lighting where they use a smoke machine. Fog is wonderful because of its ability to show the direction of light. In this case the fog reveals each point of light coming from the various openings in the top of the tree canopy. Always remember moisture is your friend and fog can help you capture great images. By the way, I did not have to go far for the picture. It is my back yard. LynnFreeny.com

Clouds Over Grayson Highlands

My favorite time to be in the Appalachian Mountains is evening and morning. At these two different times of day the light can be magical. This image was shot in Grayson Highlands in Virginia on top of a grassy bald. When composing a landscape image I usually don’t like equal amounts of sky and ground because this produces a very static composition. In this image the sky dominates because it is the most interesting part of the subject showing color and movement while the mountains are dark and absent of detail. LynnFreeny.com

Glowing Light in The Park

I was out with my family for a walk in the park the other day. I caught the sun as it began to set between the trees. By using a orange filter over the lens , normally used for black and white photography, I gave the image a warming effect. LynnFreeny.com

Smithsonian Castle Washington DC

Washington DC has a seemingly endless variety of interesting architecture. From modern to classic DC has it all. This is the original Smithsonian Museum and was the only building the Smithsonian Institution had until the 1960's. As I was looking at the old tree and the Castle I thought the two have existed together for a long time. By shooting black and white I was able to capture an image that concentrates on the rich tonality of the subject. Notice the leaves on the tree are white because of the fall color change.LynnFreeny.com

Workshop- The one day workshop will be on Saturday Nov. 3. There will be a field trip to Tremont in the Great Smoky Mountains. Price for Workshop: half day 150.00 and 250.00 for a full day. Half a day will be the morning field trip to Tremont. The all day will include the field trip and review of the images shot that day.

Leaf Close Up

This is another leaf on a dogwood in my yard using the same camera and lens as the last blog. The shallow depth of field helps isolate the leaf from the background. The nice glow is caused by the sun shinning through the leaf. LynnFreeny.com

Leaf Close up

I was walking through my yard looking for interesting things that were showing the signs of fall. With my Sigma SLR mounted on a tripod with an 80 to 300 zoom lens, I started looking at leaves on the trees. The absence of wind was a plus because it made it possible for 1/2 sec exposure to be made of this leaf. The sky, deep blue didn't hurt either giving me a perfect background. I also positioned my view so sun light would actually shine through the leaf making the leaf like a light source revealing more detail on the surface. LynnFreeny.com

Autumn Gush

In the Southern Appalachians in autumn at times there are days of strong winds that cause the sky to be filled with colorful leaves . It is hard to capture these gushes on film. I decided to put my camera on a tripod and shot at a slow shutter speed in order to show the motion these winds cause. It's like its snowing leaves. LynnFreeny.com

Glowing Truck in Knoxville

No one likes heavy traffic, including me. But when you get stuck it is always good to have a camera. As I slowed to a stop I quickly pulled out my camera to capture the reflection of the sunset of the back of this big rig. Most of the highway was in shadows causing a large difference in the color temperature from the glowing truck. LynnFreeny.com

The Face of Fall on Cherohala Skyway

Cherohala Skyway is one of the best places in the Southern Appalachians to view fall colors if you like large vistas that show mountains as far as your eye can see. In this image I wanted to only include mountains keeping the viewer in the composition. The progression of one ridge after another adds a nice rhythm to the image. LynnFreeny.com

Leaning Barn in North Carolina

Back roads are a wonderful place in the Appalachians. The rewards are little treasures that escape most peoples vision because they opt for the faster four lane highway. I was in the North Carolina mountains when I came upon the Appalachian version of The Leaning Tower of Pisa. It isn't as grand but makes up for it with simple beauty. This small barn is made from hemlock which never seems to rot but weathers to a rich brown color rather than the cold gray most commonly seen.

Tunnel in Greenbelt Park

When it comes to shadows, sometimes I think that is what black and white photography was made for. In this image shot at Greenbelt Park in Maryville Tennessee, the simplicity of black and white shines. The repeating curving lines of the tunnel along with the more organic shadows of the people walking combine, looking very much like a pen and ink drawing.

Grayson Highlands in the Fall

Shooting black and white film in the fall may seem foolish to many. Guess what? Sometimes I prefer black and white to color during the most colorful times of the year in the Southern Appalachians. With this image shot in Grayson Highlands the time of day was not right for color photography. It was around 1:30 and the sun was washing out the bright colors. By using a number 25 red filter I was able to darken the blue sky and gain overall contrast in the image. The branches of the birch tree helped fill the sky with interesting lines and shapes. LynnFreeny.com

Ginkgo Leaves and Shadow

I love ginkgo trees in the fall. They have a brilliant yellow color that you can see from far distances. Another characteristic of the ginkgo is its leaves fall all at the same time, leaving a beautiful carpet of yellow on the ground. In this image I was able to capture this carpet along with the shadow of the leafless ginkgo tree.
Special Note: I am planning a photography workshop where I take students on location for half days and all day. If you are interested please contact me by e-mail to reserve your place in the class. LynnFreeny.com

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Staying at the Chattanooga Choo Choo is like going back in time. As I walked alongside one of the cars they use as rooms to stay in. It made me wonder what it was like when trains were the best way to travel. Using a wide angle lens I was able to produce a vanishing line perspective with the train car. Black and white seemed to be appropriate for such a historical place. LynnFreeny.com

Mountain Fiddles

Repeated shapes create a rhythm in this image of mountain fiddles. The different designs and various colors of the fiddles add an interesting twist to the image. By focusing on the instruments and setting the f-stop at 5.6 I was able put the background out of focus, isolating the fiddles. LynnFreeny.com

Autumn Reflections Little River

When you include reflections in an image you have to be careful with the depth of field. The range of focus is so wide that many times a small lens opening is necessary. For this photograph, I set the f-stop at 32 which gave me an exposure of about 10 seconds. This was the only way I could obtain sharp focus throughout the image. The trees that are reflected in the water are in the sun, whereas the rocks and river are in shade. Because of the long exposure, the slow moving water at the top of the photograph shows some motion with a slight blur. LynnFreeny.com

Southern Appalachian Forest Floor

When walking through the woods with a camera most of us have a bad habit of looking eye level for interesting things. Don't forget the forest floor. For this image I had to position my tripod about a foot from the ground. The rule of thirds is illustrated by the location of the red leaf. LynnFreeny.com

Steps and Shadows

Shadows have always intrigued me as far back as I can remember. They magically disappear and reappear as clouds travel across the sky. Shadows are distortions of solid objects. In this image the shadows take over as the main subject causing the steps to almost go unnoticed. The random patterns the leaves form at the bottom of the steps help finish the composition with something very different from the symmetrical shadows. LynnFreeny.com

Falls Leaves in Water

Patterns in nature come in many different shapes and colors. This group of leaves in the still waters of a mountain stream caught my eye. They were so different in size, color, and shape yet they belonged together. One thing that brings the composition together is the presence of the sky reflecting in the water. Also there are colors that balance well together revealing a wide spectrum of hues that go unnoticed by the causal viewer in autumn. LynnFreeny.com

Young Dancer's Legs

Repetition of similar shapes always creates interesting patterns and rhythms in art. In this image of the dancers, the dresses, legs, and lights are all examples of this. By composing the image to only include the bottom half of the dancers, I was able to simplify the composition which keeps your eyes from wandering out of the frame. Also by using a very large lens opening of f-2.8 the shallow depth of field caused the lights to overlap each other as they balloon out of focus. LynnFreeny.com

A Spot of Color From Sumac

Some of the first and brightest colors of fall in the Southern Appalachians come from a very small and humble plant. But when this time of the year comes, sumac comes out of it shyness and shows off in brilliant colors. I saw these two plants growing in an almost impossible spot on this barren rock face. The contrast of the rocky background makes a prefect neutral color for the sumac plants.LynnFreeny.com

Leaf Close Up

Fall is finally here with the hopes of bright leaf color. I like to pick up leaves in my yard that have interesting patterns and take them inside to scan on my flatbed scanner. I usually get strange looks from my neighbors as I collect these beautiful leaves. When I picked this one off the ground I was amazed to find a leaf in several stages of color change. I have a scanner with dual lights for scanning film. Thus , I scanned the leave as if it were film. The light shining through the leaf helped to reveal the complex structure of the tiny veins. LynnFreeny.com

Wedding on the Beach

To pose or not to pose? That seems to be the biggest question I am always asking myself when photographing people. Some of the best people photographers pose their subjects. Arnold Newman and Ed Westcott both heavily directed the positions of their subjects. When posing people you have to be careful or you will lose their real personality or even worse, make them look awkward and nervous. For this wedding image I did some light directing. After having my subjects face each other I waited on a natural reaction which is what you see. You have to remember most people are not actors or professional models so getting a natural pose is not easy. Also when shooting people always take lots of images so you have more to choose from and find a more natural pose or expression. LynnFreeny.com

American Flag in Traffic

Showing motion in still photography sounds like an oxymoron, but it can be done. The secret, a shutter speed slow enough to blur fast moving objects. In the case of this image , I shot from a car moving in the opposite direction of the blue car in the picture. With a shutter speed of 1/125, I was able to freeze the motion of the flag yet show the motion of the car which produced a ghost like image. LynnFreeny.com

Parking Lot Sunset

The beauty of a busy parking lot sometimes goes unnoticed . The sky is just starting to clear after a late day thunderstorm. The wet pavement is reflecting the warm light of the sunset. In our hurried life I dare say that most people miss this type of scene because they are looking for a good parking space. Slow down from the rat race and enjoy those little moments. LynnFreeny.com

Fog and Sunlight

When you mix two elements in nature you are bound to get an interesting photograph. Fog with early morning sunlight is always an interesting combination to work with. The moisture reflects and even redirects light, creating interesting lines and patterns. The long vertical lines in the image are caused by small shafts of light traveling through small holes in the forest canopy. The presence of the fog helps to show these individual light sources as they travel to the forest floor. These same light patterns are created at rock concerts by using man made fog and several different filtered lights. LynnFreeny.com