Category Archives: Lightroom 5.7
Tomorrow I fly to Venice to settle in before the workshop starts. It will be wonderful walking the old familiar streets and checking out where the scaffolding has been taken down and where it has been moved to. Venice is in constant repair and there are images that I have waited patiently for the renovations to be completed before I can capture them. For this image of Santa Maria della Salute I waited patiently for close to 10 years before the renovations were finished and the scaffolding was taken down. It was worth the wait!!

Santa Maria della Salute
Photography has given me an appreciation of the moments that I spend waiting for the exceptional light that each day gives us.
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1 Comment | tags: Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Lightroom 5.7, Photographic Workshops, Rome Photgraphic Workshop, Santa Maria della Salute, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Labs, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Vaporetto, Venice Cafe, Venice Photographic Workshop Tour
The enthusiasm of the clients who travel with me always recharges me and I am looking forward to spending time in the field with everyone this year.
Last night Marius Strumyla sent me a few of the images he captured the day after the Charleston workshop ended. I thought this Azalea pathway was exceptional.

Charleston Path – Marius Strumyla
Charleston’s spring workshop is always a great way to start the years teaching season.
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1 Comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Clarity | posted in Azaleas, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Lightroom 5.7, Spanish Moss, 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
$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, 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
Often clients and friends have asked why I get out early to capture images and my answer is usually something like this. Early mornings have the best light of the day and often give us special effects. As the sun was rising on this wonderful fall day a soft mist lingered over the lake giving it a surreal look. Most mornings the early morning fog burns off before the sunrises.
At the sun was starting to make the horizon glow I captured this image at 1 seconds at f/11, ISO 100

Misty Morning Sunrise – Munising, Michigan
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, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Clarity | posted in Barns, F-Stop, Lightroom 5.7, Michigan photographic workshops, Mirror Lake, Munising Michigan, Paul Christopher James, Paul Christopher James, Pictured Rocks, Sunrise, 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
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.
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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
Early in the morning and later in the evening the ancient cities have very little foot traffic and are wonderful time to capture images. After our sunset shot of San Gimignano we went into town for a nice dinner and on our walk back to our hotel the piazza was empty which gave everyone the opportunity to capture great images of this piazza which is usually crowed.

San Gimignano processed with Topaz Clarity
When I am teaching on location my main focus is making sure that everyone in capturing great images and learning their camera. Going to great locations makes my job easy and having so many wonderful people travel with me has enriched the time that I spend traveling.
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
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Spring Photo workshop, Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Charleston Photographic Workshop, Lightroom 5.7, Michigan photographic workshops, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, San Gimignano, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz Labs, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Venice Photographic Workshop Tour
The Castel Sant’Angelo is the fortress near St. Peters where Popes took refuge when Rome was under siege. Now, as in ancient times, you cross over the impressive Bridge of Angels which spans the Tiber River to enter to the Castel Sant’Angelo. When I am out photographing early in the mornings with my groups, when most of Rome is still sleeping, it is easy to envision being in ancient Rome. It is always a treat capturing images in these ancient places before the tourists and locals appear on the streets and remind us that is not 350 AD.
The hotel accommodations I have made for the 2015 group traveling with me to Rome is near the Vatican and a brief stole from the Bridge of Angels.

Castle of Angles and Bridge of Angels
I captured this image of the Castel Sant’Angelo at an aperture of F11 and shutter speed of 3 seconds. The color image was processed in Lightroom and Topaz Clarity. The B&W images I processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2

Castle of Angles and Bridge of Angels
Anyone visiting Rome and interested in getting to know the city intimately I would recommend taking a personalized tour with Steve and Grazia Andre http://enchantingrome.com/ . Their knowledge and love of the city has always amazed me and delighted my clients.
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Adobe CS6, Bridge of Angles, Cades Cove, Castle of Angels, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Lightroom 5.7, Michigan photographic workshops, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Photoshop CS6, Roman Curia, Roman Fourm, Rome Photgraphic Workshop, Rome Photo Workshop, Saint Peters Rome, Slot Canyon Photo Workshop, Smoky Mountain spring photo workshop, Smoky Mountains National Park, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz Clarity, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Tuscan Photo Workshop, Val d'Orcia, Venice Italy Photographic Workshop