Category Archives: Michigan Photo Workshop
May 14, 2016 $75 Limit 8

Farmhouse Lilacs
Now that spring has arrived in Michigan there are a lot of photographers who want to dust off their cameras and spend a time honing their camera and processing skills, while capturing some great spring images. On May 14, 2016, I will be spending the day shooting and going over image processing in the countryside near my home in Chelsea, Michigan.
We will start the day at 9 a.m. with coffee, while going over camera functions, in Chelsea at the old farm house where I live and work. Then we will head out for some close up work. My neighbors raise horses and they have two Friesian foals that we will spend time with.
After a lunch break, we will go over image processing on the images we have shot, then head out for an afternoon shoot.
In the afternoon we will spend time at the Waterloo Farm Museum, where we will spend some of the afternoon shooting the buildings and some close up images. After a couple of hours at Waterloo, we will go back to work on image processing to wind down the day.
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Leave a comment | tags: Digital Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Labs | posted in Adobe CS6, Barns, Focus Stacking, Irises, Lightroom, Lilacs, Michigan Photo Workshop, Michigan photographic workshops, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Poppies
Big Sable Lighthouse is one of our country’s best kept lighthouses and a gem along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

HDR Pano Big Sable Lighthouse
This image was shot a few hours after sunrise. To preserve the highlights and shadows I merged three separate exposures to create HDR files. To create this panoramic, I merged 2 HDR images. The HDR and Panoramic files were created in Lightroom.
As a Michigan resident and photographer, I am grateful for the hard work put in by the members of Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association to restore and maintain Big Sable, Ludington North Breakwater, Little Sable, and White River Lighthouses. Visit their website www.splka.org and take the time to explore their organization and lighthouses on the east coast of Lake Michigan.
Hope you can join me this summer to photograph some of these wonderful lighthouses.
Lake Michigan Lighthouse Workshop Tour
Aug 14 – 17 2016
$495.00/ Limited to 8 Students
Click here to get to my Links page for the 15% off discount code for any of the Topaz products.
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Michigan Lighthouse Workshop, Michigan Photo Workshops, Topaz Labs | posted in Big Sable Point Lighthouse, Lake Michigan Lighthouse photo workshop, Lake Michigan Shoreline, Lightroom, Michigan photographic workshops, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Photoshop CS6, Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Topaz Clarity, Topaz labs
This image was captured during the Lake Michigan workshop. To create this image I processed two images in the lightroom Develop Pallet and then used Lightroom’s Panoramic blend mode to create a single Panoramic image. After creating this Panoramic image I used Topaz Clarity to give it a little pop.
Our Lake Michigan shoreline reminds me of the beaches along North Carolina’s Outer Banks both have wonderful sand, dune grass, wild sea oats and lighthouses. Michigan like the Outer Banks has great lighthouses and more of them. Between North and South Carolina there are 16 lighthouses while Michigan has 127 remaining lighthouses.
Ludington Beach State Park – Lake Michigan

Ludington State Park – Lake Michigan
This is one of the two raw image processed in lightroom only before using Topaz Clarity to make it pop.

Ludington Beach processed in Lightoom
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Click here to get to my Links page for the 15% off discount code for any of the Topaz products.
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2 Comments | tags: Michigan Lighthouse Workshop, Michigan Photo Workshops, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Labs | posted in Lake Michigan Lighthouse photo workshop, Lake Michigan Shoreline, Lightroom, Michigan photographic workshops, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Photoshop CS6, South Haven Lighthouse, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Clarity
Northern Michigan’s birch trees are fantastic anytime of the year but in the fall they explode in color. The white bark contrasted by the reds and yellows are beautiful to see and make wonderful images.

Northern Michigan birch tree
For a list of upcoming Workshops click here
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Leave a comment | tags: Digital Photographic Workshop, Michigan Photo Workshops, Paul Christopher James, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs | posted in Barns, Birch trees, Fall Colors, Lightroom 5.7, Michigan Photo Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Topaz Clarity
Train tracks are great subject matter for photographers. In this Northern Michigan image the lines lead you through this great fall scene.
This line not only lead my eye through the image, but then my imagination takes over and leads me to more great shooting locations somewhere down the tracks.
In May I will be teaching a Photographic Workshop in Italy, we will be riding a train from Venice to Florence. Working with the group for a couple of days before heading into the Siena Province and then onto Rome; the fun will be when imagination takes over as we head down the tracks.

Train Tracks in the Autumn processed with Lightroom and Topaz Clarity
For a list of upcoming Workshops click here
$20 off Topaz B&W Effects allows for stunning black and white conversion and contains unique features like authentic grain and darkroom inspired effects. The discount will reducing the price to $39.99 for the month of March. The coupon code is: MARBW click here
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Leave a comment | tags: Digital Photographic Workshop, Michigan Photo Workshops, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Clarity | posted in Barns, Fall Colors, Lightroom 5.7, Michigan Photo Workshop, Michigan photographic workshops, Paul Christopher James, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Pictured Rocks, Steam Locomotives, Train Tracks
Most photographers, I find are young at heart but need a little coaxing. I would like to think that I would go out and lay on the ground looking up at the sky through the trees on a beautiful fall day, but it only seems to happen when I am out capturing images. On nice days at home, when I am not preparing for an art fair, I am out mowing the lawn and gardening a little which is probably true for most of us. Luckily I am out shooting more than ever and the garden is a little more natural.
To capture this image, my camera mounted on the tripod, lying flat on my back, I composed the image of the treetops and the sky. Nature in all its glory! The raw image was nice and just needed to brighten the shadows and darkened the highlights in Lightroom. Then I used Topaz Clarity to enhance the color while popping the highlights and shadows.

Northern Michigan’s Poplars processed with Lightroom and Topaz Clarity
This unprocessed image would work but has less detail. Topaz Clarity brought out the details in the leaves and clouds.

Northern Michigan’s Poplars unprocessed
For a list of upcoming Workshops click here
$20 off Topaz B&W Effects allows for stunning black and white conversion and contains unique features like authentic grain and darkroom inspired effects. The discount will reducing the price to $39.99 for the month of March. The coupon code is: MARBW click here
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Michigan Photo workshop, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Clarity | posted in Fall Colors, Lake Michigan Lighthouse photo workshop, Michigan Photographic Workshop, Photographic Workshops, Poplars, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz Clarity
The last couple of days have felt like spring and I have been looking through some of my floral images from last May that I have been wanting to process. In Topaz B&W Effects I was able to create a beautiful Infrared B&W with a negative edging border from the color image file. The right software can be extremely helpful when you return from a shooting trip because there is never enough room in the camera pack to bring all the equipment.

Spring Poppies processed with Topaz B&W Effects to create an infrared image
The Color image is the Raw image with just a bit of healing on a few darks spots on the Poppies.

Unprocessed file of Spring Poppies
For a list of upcoming Workshops click here
$20 off Topaz B&W Effects allows for stunning black and white conversion and contains unique features like authentic grain and darkroom inspired effects. The discount will reducing the price to $39.99 for the month of March. The coupon code is: MARBW click here
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Michigan Photo Workshops, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs, Tuscany photo workshop | posted in Charleston Photographic Workshop, Lightroom 5.7, Michigan photographic workshops, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Poppies, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz B&W Effects 2, Topaz Labs, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Zion National Park
A tapestry of colors comes to mind when I capture fall images in the Smoky Mountains. My two favorite times in the Smoky Mountains are the spring and fall. In the fall a night’s frost changes the sugars in the plants which create the wonderful color patterns along the rivers and meadows. The colors are truly amazing

Smoky Mountain fall tapestry
Lightroom 5.7 and Topaz Clarity were used to process this fall river scene.
For a list of upcoming Workshops click here
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Topaz ReStyle is $20 off its original price of $59.99 (reducing the price to $39.99) coupon code ‘FEBRESTYLE’ click here
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Leave a comment | tags: Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity | posted in Charleston Photographic Workshop, Lightroom 5.7, Michigan Photo Workshop, Michigan Photo Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Rome Photgraphic Workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz Clarity, Tremont, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Tuscan Photo Workshop, Venice Photographic Workshop Tour
When shooting in close for macro or close up images it is often difficult bringing everything into focus even at f/22 or f/32. The depth of field of an image will often come up short and leave parts of the image out of focus. This is when focus stacking becomes useful. This image was focused manually starting at the point closest to the lense and work my way into the image taking 4 exposures at different focus points. After taking the four exposure I blended them in Photoshop bringing the whole image into focus.

Focus Stacking in Photoshop CS6
The image below focuses on the flower pistil closest to the lens. I took 4 exposures at different focus points leaving the corners at the top soft to help draw your eye into the image.

1st of four focus exposure
For a list of upcoming Workshops click here
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Topaz ReStyle is $20 off its original price of $59.99 (reducing the price to $39.99) coupon code ‘FEBRESTYLE’ click here
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Smokey Mountain Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Adobe CS6, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Focus Stacking, Michigan Photo Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Rome photo workshop, Smokey Mountain Photo Workshop, Tuscan Photo Workshop
The streams and waterfalls in the Smoky Mountains are great to photograph any time of year but when the Mountains are in their fall colors it is magical.

Fall in the Smoky Mountains
When working along the rivers I usually want to create a fluid movement and sharp focus through the image. When the light is a little brighter light a Neutral Density filter will give me a longer exposure. In low light conditions I can usually create this effect with a 3 or 4 second exposure without having to use the Neutral Density filters.

Man and Nature
For me watching the clients capturing images and having fun is the best part of teaching at any of the location. When capturing images whether you shooting a candid portrait or landscape timing is everything. You can see the enthusiasm in Steve’s face for the image he has just taken.

Having fun along the River
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Italian Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Tuscany photo workshop | posted in Adobe CS6, Cades Cove, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Fall Colors, Fall Smoky Mountain photo workshop, Greenbrier, Gregg Cabin, Gregg-Cable house, Lake Michigan Lighthouse photo workshop, Little River Road, Michigan Photo Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, River time exposure, Rome Photo Workshop, Slot Canyon Workshops, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Spring Smoky Mountain Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Venice Photographic Workshop Tour