May 14, 2016 $75 Limit 8
Farmhouse Lilacs
Category Archives: Michigan Photo Workshop
Big Sable Lighthouse – Aug 14-17
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
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Ludington Beach View
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
Click here to get to my Links page for the discount code for ReMask 5.
Click here to get to my Links page for the 15% off discount code for any of the Topaz products.
Northern Michigan Birch Trees in the Fall
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
$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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Michigan Train Tracks in the Fall
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
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz product Click Here
Northern Michigan’s Poplars processed with Lightroom and Topaz Clarity
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
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz product Click Here
Spring Poppies processed with Topaz B&W Effects to create an infrared image
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
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz product Click Here
Smoky Mountain Tapestry of Colors
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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Focus stacking close up images
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
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz product Click Here
Topaz ReStyle is $20 off its original price of $59.99 (reducing the price to $39.99) coupon code ‘FEBRESTYLE’ click here
Smoky Mountain Fall Color Workshop October 25-28
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
