Category Archives: Fall Colors
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz product Click Here
Like this:
Like Loading...
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
My mornings on location can bring amazing results. Earlier in the week we visited this lake hoping to capture mirror reflections at sunrise but the winds had kicked up making the lake choppy and even though that morning was beautiful I had to revisit this lake to capture this soft fog and mirrored sunrise.
Often clients and friends ask why I revisit these beautiful places? My answer often brings a smile when I tell them that I revisit these beautiful locations to capture them under the right lighting and weather locations. When I revisit an area like Pictured Rocks I will always explore and scout out new locations to shoot but there are locations that I will go back to every time I am in an area.

Sunrise in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The unprocessed image of this misty morning on this mirror lake is pretty sweet but processing this image with Lightroom and Topaz Clarity brings the feel and look closer to what we actually saw that morning.

Sunrise in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan Raw image
To Save 25% on Topaz Clarity Click Here
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz Click Here
To save 15% on the Nik collection Click Here
To save 50% on the Topaz Suite now $379.99 Click Here
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a comment | posted in Antelope Canyon, Fall Colors, Michigan photographic workshops, Nik Software, Photographic Workshops, Pictured Rocks, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Smoky Mountains National Park, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs
The storms passing over Lake Superior created these wonderful waves crashing along the shoreline at Pictures Rocks.

Storm surges along pictured rocks
Using the Lightroom 5.6 develop module and Topaz Clarity I was able to bring out the greens in the Lake Superior waves.

Raw Images of storm surges
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz Click Here
To save 15% on the Nik collection Click Here
To save 50% on the Topaz Suite now $379.99 Click Here
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a comment | tags: Digital Photographic Workshop, Michigan Photo Workshops, Nik Software, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity | posted in Adobe CS6, Fall Colors, Michigan photographic workshops, Paul Christopher James, Pictured Rocks, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Storm Surges
The Munising Pictured Rocks area is great area to explore waterfall falls. When exploring the water falls it is fun to climb around and explore all angles. When exploring Memorial falls it was fun climbing in behind the falls and shooting out to capture some of the yellows in the fall colors.

Memorial Falls – Pictured Rocks
The image below where I am shooting into the fall is the typical image you see of Memorial falls. It is a nice image but does not have the character of the image above where I am shooting out of the falls.

Memorial Falls – Munising Michigan
To Save 15% on any of the Topaz Click Here
To save 15% on the Nik collection Click Here
To save 50% on the Topaz Suite now $379.99 Click Here
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity | posted in Barns, Fall Colors, Memorial Falls, Michigan photographic workshops, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Pictured Rocks, Topaz Labs