NEW GROUND

ISO 400, f/20, 0.6 Seconds, 19mm

  Monday morning provided an opportunity form me. I had to drop my daughter off in Knoxville at cheer camp. She would be there from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and I had 4 hrs to kill.
  I decided to drive 45 minutes down to the Smokies and do some photography. I went through Townsend, TN and decided I would try and capture some pictures in the Little River only this time I would explore between Townsend and Cades Cove. I had never done any photography along this stretch of the the Little River and had noticed several spots from the road while driving to Cades Cove the last couple of times.
  The only obstacle that presented itself was the sun that was already up fairly high in the morning sky and shining on the water, ruining photo ops in those areas.
  After a long set of shots at West Prong Falls just past Tremont, I found this neat set of cascades. Lots of green rocks and a really large flow of water at the bottom of the falls made for a great little composition. I got my camera low near the water to accent the large amount of splashing the water created. Shooting at ISO 400 allowed me to get the shutter speed I liked at 0.6 seconds and catch a lot of the detail in the water.
  I bracketed a set of shots so that I could get some definition in the background where the sun was shining brightly. The HDR brought out a great deal of detail in the rocks as well.

UNION TERMINAL & MUSEUM

ISO 100, f/20, 5 Seconds, 19mm

  The only other icon of Cincinnati that I was dead set on getting shots from was the Union Terminal & Museum on the west side of the city. When we arrived, and finally figured out how to get in the parking area, a third storm of the day was creeping up to the south.
  My first initial composition was directly in front of the building with the water fountain in the foreground. After processing, I really liked this long exposure from an angle better. Especially with the clouds from the storm providing some added mood to the shot.
  In processing I started using Adobe Lightroom 4 a bit more and am really starting to like the adjustments it provides. In particular, the tone curve adjustments.

CINCY CITYSCAPE SUNSET

ISO 100, f/20, 2.5 Seconds, 19mm, 5 Image Panorama, HDR @ -2 EV

  The night after I took the picture for CITY LIGHTS, we were right back down in Covington, KY eating at Wunderbar, a fantastic German restaurant. After eating some great food and taking in some great drink, we were headed back to east Cincinnati when I saw a tremendous sunset developing.
  After complaining that the night before didn't look like that, we made our way back down to the riverfront.
  I wanted to catch the beautiful sunset with the Roebling Suspension Bridge in the foreground so I positioned myself on the east side of the bridge. I also wanted to catch the entire cityscape of Cincinnati in the shot, so I took 5 vertical images so I could do a panorama. The sunset was going down just behind Paul Brown Stadium, which happened to be seen just under the bridge. For those who don't know, Paul Brown Stadium is where the Cincinnati Bengals play NFL football.
  I went as far to the right as to fit Great American Ballpark, where the Cincinnati Reds play Major League Baseball, in the frame. By doing so I luckily fit this neat little boat that was docked on the Kentucky side of the river in the shot as well.
  Processed 5 separate HDR images in Photomatix Essentials and stitched together in Photoshop Elements. Did some fine tuning in Lightroom 4 and viola!

CITY LIGHTS

ISO 200, f/20, 20 Seconds, 19mm

  I never realized how pretty a skyline Cincinnati, OH has.
  Last evening, Devin Hensley and I took a trek down to Covington, KY just on the other side of the Ohio River from the Queen City. We are in town all week for some CAD training just east of town.
  We had intentions of eating at a German place and when we found out it was closed, made a jaunt over to The Cock and Bull English Pub where we ate fish & chips and took in some great atmosphere. It was a very nice alternative.
  After we ate we managed our way down to the riverfront so I could get some skyline images. I had seen some images that included the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in them and just had to get a vantage point that included it. I loved the brick towers and it was the only bridge out of many in the city that had lights on it.
  The bridge did not disappoint and neither did the Cincy skyline. Got to the waterfront just as blue hour was finishing up and rattled off a few shots from both sides of the bridge. This particular one is a 3 shot, vertical panorama so that I could get the near tower large in the foreground and still bit the row of lit up buildings across the river in the distant background.
  The great thing about it all is that I didn't do much other than stitch them together and patch a couple of dust spots in Picasa.

BACK TO THE RIVER

ISO 200, f/20, 2 Seconds, 19mm

  Boy, it sure was like coming home to spend about an hour on the Tellico River on Sunday morning. Been doing so much in the Great Smoky Mountains that I almost forgot about the Cherokee National Forest and, in particular, the Tellico River.

  I actually went to a couple of spots that I have been before but wanted to get something completely different. Instead of capturing the the cascades and waterfalls I concentrated on reflections.

  Normally, this is reserved for the fall of the year but I couldn't resist when the reflection of the green trees started showing up on the smooth parts of the river. The rocks were really reflecting a blue tint from the bright blue sky. It was beautiful and made me feel good shoot the river a little different.

THINKING ABSTRACTLY

ISO 200, f/8, 1/4 Second, 35mm

  For the first time in a long time I spent a morning doing photography in the Cherokee National Forest instead of the Great Smoky Mountains. It was a welcome change of location. Not that I have gotten tired of the Smokies, I just welcomed the familiarity of the Cherohala Skyway, River Rd., and the Tellico River.
  Something that I almost always forget to do when I'm out shooting is thinking in the abstract or out of the ordinary. I usually get so caught up with capturing the big picture that I neglect to look for subtle details, mirrored compositions, funky shapes, etc., that are very cool, I just don't look for them that often.
  This morning was the exception. In today's post the rocks at the top of the frame are actually closer than that of the opposing hillside. By zooming in and putting the reflection of the hillside in the bottom part of the frame, I abstractly flipped the composition and used the hillside as the foreground.
  I really like these type of images. I am going to have to remember to look for them more often.

LIGHTING UP THE MORNING

ISO 100, f/20, 0.6 seconds, 19mm

Just when I thought I was done with my images from Wednesday's sunrise pictures from Kefauver Park I run across this one. I really love the lamp post in the foreground.