Cascades Great Smoky Mountains National Park

I used a very sturdy tripod to get this photo of a water fall in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. f-22 at 1/2 second on Fujjchrome 50 with a Mamiya 2 1/4 square twin lens using a 50 mm lens.  It was a great camera that had interchangable lens. It was a poor mans Hasselblad and worked great in my college days. When photographing water  and waterfalls a shutter speed of 1/30 or less will show the movement of the water giving a more natural look. Cloudy days are best for water fall photography in the Smoky Mountains. The sun becomes a large light source on a cloudy day so that a much more even light that produces less dark shadows giving more detail even in the middle of the day. On cloudy days I alway set my custom white balances using a white card. The white balance correction helps separate the colors prevents the low color effect you get on cloudy days. 

Buck in Sunrise Cades Cove

The best time to shoot is early morning at first light or late evening at last light. I drove in the fog and dark from my house all the way to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I waited in the dark on the gate to be open into Cades Cove loop road. The Park Service opens the gate as soon the sun starts to rise. The gate was open to a magical sunrise through a thick fog. What a wonderful place to have a camera!! I stop at an area with trees in an open field. I started shooting the sunrise through the trees when suddenly a buck top the hill coming full speed toward me. The deer was startled as much as I was. I had the camera mounted to my tripod so all I had to do was focus on the deer instead of the distance trees. Alway get to your location in the dark before first light.

Foothills Parkway Overlook

This image was taken from Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains. Using my Bogen 3221 tripod with my 6x7 Pentax Camera with the morris locked up to prevent any camera shake I captured the morning fog that had settled in the valley below in Townsend Tennessee. I used a 60mm fixed lens with Fujjchrome 50 transparence film (yes film "old school"). Early morning is always a great time to shoot if you like good saturation and dynamic light that creates shadows that gives the image a more three-dimensional look. Many times people sleep late or eat a big breakfast before they go out to shoot. By the time they get out it is too late because the sun is higher in the sky causing the light to be flatter which produce low saturation and an overall average and boring photo. Getting to places at first light will improve your landscape 100%!

Aerial Great Smoky Mountains

I shot this image early in the morning at about 6am. Fog was in the valley and the sun was just beginning to light the sky with warm tones. The best light for outdoor photography is morning or evening or first light and last light. The sun being lower in the sky creates warm tones along with light that produces more color saturation. The light is much more exciting because we only see it for a few fleeting moments a day. For best results when shooting outside would be to get to your destination before sun rise then shoot until sun get high in the sky take a good nap then get up and shoot 1 hour before the sun sets. The times will vary with the time of year so find out what time sun set and sun rise is and plan it that way.

Sunset on Mt. LeConte

I guess you could say Mt. LeConte is my favorite hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That could be a problem because I think it is everybodies favorite too. One summer I hike it 13 time then jogged up it once with just a water bottle shorts and t-shirt along with a head lamp for the return down in the dark. I have also photographs a wedding at LeConte. This image was taken with my 6x7 Pentax on Fujichrome  50 film. With this low ISO film I used a tripod and locked my mirror up so I would get a sharp image.

Frozen Fog Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The interesting thing about a very cold winter in the Smoky Mountains is the possibility of fog freezing on the trees. It usually happens in the morning hours so getting up early is required. I love morning light so that is not a problem for me. Notice the fog did not cover all of the trees because the wind moves the fog randomly. In the mountains the wind can be very unpredictable. I shoot it with my 4x5 Golan camera using Fuji chrome 50 sheet film.  

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Little River in Black and White

This photo was taken with my 6x7 Pentax using a tripod. Fuji chrome 50 film was used with a 50mm lens set at f-22 with a exposure of 2 seconds. With this camera I always had to lock up the mirror in order to keep the image sharp. I scanned the transparence then used photoshop to convert the image to a black and white by using only the green channel. I then converted the image back to RGB so I could add a warm red tint to the image. The 6 x 7 format made it possible to go very large on prints. This image was displayed at Deer Park Inn for about a year and was sold at galleries in Asheville North Carolina.

Reflections in Downtown Maryville

This photo was made during the Basic Photography class I teach at Pellissippi. We had an urban field trip in downtown Maryville working on night photography skills . I used a tripod with a 1.3 second exposure f-25 ISO 3200.

Shadows on University of Tennessee Campus Knoxville

Reflections on University of Tennessee Knoxville Campus

Chattanooga At Night

Chattanooga Warm Evening Light

Leaves Traveling Down a Small Water Fall in Knoxville Tennessee

Red Barn and Thunderheads Blount County Tennessee

Looking Out My Wind Shield a Jet Flies Up

Sitting in The Middle of The Street University of Tennessee

Sunrise University of Tennessee

Water Drops From Rain On Car Window

I used extension tubes on my normal lens to capture the macro world on my window.

Sunset in Shopping Center Parking Lot Maryville Tennessee

Heavy Frost in Cades Cove

Snowy Bridge at Night To University Commons Knoxville Tennessee

Shadows and Street Lights Knoxville Tennessee

Sun Sphere and Convention Center at Night Knoxville Tennessee

Saxophone Musician in Market Square Knoxville Tennessee

I actually turned this black and white photo into a drawing using the filter in photoshop Find Edges. This does not work with most of my images but this image had the right amount of simplified lines to pull it off.

West Prong Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Red Out of focus Christmas Lights

Any time you put a light source out of focus it will ballon up in size. This works well when doing close up work with the sun in the background. Remember that you have to take the camera off auto focus in order to do this trick.

Graffiti Color Saturated Wall Knoxville Tennessee

Stink Bug Painted With a Small Flash Light

It was late in the evening just starting to get dark when I noticed a stink bug on a bright red dogwood leave.  There was not much light to really see detail.  I thought maybe a flash light could help. I painted the bug with my  small flash light with the camera set on f-18 at 5 seconds and ISO 100. Check out the antennae the only thing that shows any movement in the long exposure. Of course I used a very sturdy tripod and hoped for no wind.

Christmas Tree Lights Through a Mug

Starry Night in Blount County Tennessee

Photo Information- Camera on tripod 15mm lens f-5.6 at 25 seconds with ISO set at 2500

Painting with a Flash Light in My Lighting Class at Pellissippi

Tremont West Prong Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Night Shot on My Street with Flashlight

Early Morning on Melton Hill Lake with Geese

After Photography Class at Pellissippi

In the Rain Closing Time at Sullivan's Maryville Tennessee

Closeup of Dew in Cades Cove

Spring in Knoxville

West Prong Tremont Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Mill at Cades Cove Great Smoky Mountains National Park

West Prong Tremont Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Fern Coves Cade Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Smithsonian Castle Through the Gates in Washington DC

Woman With Umbrella Market Square Knoxville Tennessee

Parking Lot Pellissippi State Knoxville Tennessee

White House Knoxville Tennessee

Little Girl on Grand Piano

I matched the warm existing light with a studio strobe  with a warming filter  to reveal more detail of the piano.

Sun Setting Behind Trees in Back Yard

I alway say you do not need to go far to find subjects worthy of photographing. Jut get off the couch and go outside with your camera.

Milky Way Foothills Parkway Tennessee

The Milky Way from Foothills Parkway  is one of the best places to star gaze in Blount County because of the absents of street lights.

Interior of John B. Begley Chapel Lindsey Wilson College Columbia KY

I used my Go Pro Black edition in order to get a wide angle view inside this beautiful chapel in Kentucky.