Category Archives: Natural Arch
I had a short window of time during the 2014 Zion workshop to capture a few star images last year. During the 2015 Southwest workshop November 7-11 the moon will not be out at night and we will have dark skies which will be perfect for capturing the star filled western skies.

Zion nights Southwest photo workshops
While on location some of the fun in an image is caused by people interacting with the environment. The foreground of this image was lit by the interior lights of a car while a family had their evening meal while enjoying the night sky. The interior lights from their car lit up the foreground hills in my 30sec exposure.
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Charleston Photographic Workshop, Fire Wave, Italian Photographic Workshop, Lower Antelope Canyon, Natural Arch, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Pink Slot Canyon, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Valley of Fire, Venice Photographic Workshop Tour, Zion National Park, Zion National Park
Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with JBrad Lewis on a few of the images he captured during my Novembers Southwest workshop. We used Adobe Lightroom developed module to process his image. Lightroom has a fantastic develop module and its cataloging system to organize my workflow is amazing and over the last year it has become my starting point for working on images. Lightroom’s lets you work with a thumbnail of your images instead of the full image storing metadata of the changes and making my workflow lighting fast. When I work with my images in CS6 program the larger files slow me down. Not having to wait for files to open saves me time to go out and do a little more shooting.

Antelope Canyon – Southwest Workshop
The unprocessed image looks good out of the camera but a few Lightroom adjustments makes it a award winning image.

Antelope Canyon Raw unprocessed image
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Antelope Canyon, Audubon Swamp, Barns, Battery Park, Boneyard, Botany Bay, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Fire Canyon Arch, Fire Wave, Grand Canyon, Hopi Point, Horseshoe Bend, Michigan Photographic Workshop, Michigan photographic workshops, Natural Arch, Nik software, Petroglyphs, Photographic Workshops, Photoshop Elements 13, Pink Slot Canyon, Pink Slot Canyon, Rialto Bridge, Rome Photgraphic Workshop, Rome photo workshop, Smoky Mountains National Park, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, The Narrows, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Photo Software, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Upper Antelope Canyon, Valley of Fire, Venice, Venice Italy Photographic Workshop, Virgin River, Zion National Park
Last week was the first time I had the opportunity to work with the new Photoshop Elements 13 and I was impressed by its highlight recovery. Debbie B. captured this wonderful image in Lower Antelope canyon during the Southwest workshop .

Lower Antelope Canyon Processed
If you have worked in any of the Photoshop develop modules you can work in any of the other Photoshop develop modules. They are all laid out similarly. Debbie B. emailed me this great composition that she had captured during the Southwest workshop and I walked her through the steps to process her image. The highlight recovery in Elements 13 is far superior to the highlights I have been able to recover in CS6 and Lightroom 5.7. Adobe keeps surprising me with their software magic!

Lower Antelope unprocessed
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Glow can be used as a stand-alone or a plugin to transform your photos from dull to dazzling. Containing more than 70 unconventional and quirky filters, you can infuse your images with neon, graphic, liquid and other electrifying effects.
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Spring Photo workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Italian Photographic Workshop, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Adobe CS6, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Fire Canyon Arch, Fire Wave, Grand Canyon, Italian Photographic Workshop, Lower Antelope Canyon, Montepulciano in Tuscany, Natural Arch, Navajo Nation, Nik Software, Page Arizona, Paul Christopher James, Photoshop Elements 13, Piazza Navona, Pink Slot Canyon, Rome Photo Workshop, Slot Canyon Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz Labs, Tuscan Photo Workshop, Upper Antelope Canyon, Valley of Fire, Venice Italy Photographic Workshop, Zion National Park
The 4th of July is a great day to have fun with family and friends and plan trips to our great National Parks. My images below capture the beauty of Grand Canyon and remind me of the visual treasures the parks hold for us to photograph. I have scheduled two workshops this fall in our National Parks, hope you can join us.
The Great Smoky Mountains Workshop tour October 26-29 2014
Southwest Slot Canyon Workshop tour Nov. 8-14 2014.
Hope you can join me in one of our national parks!

Shadow Lands, South Rim of the Grand Canyon
Both Topaz and Nix software can work magic on your image. Today Ihave spent a little time today working on images of the Grand Canyon that are in my Panoramic Gallery. The Topaz software that I used to finish these images makes a huge improvement over the original processing in Photoshop CS3 used just a few years ago.

Tapestry of Light, South Rim of the Grand Canyon

Raw image with a few adjustments
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Leave a comment | tags: Italian Photographic Workshop, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Smokey Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity | posted in Antelope Canyon, Cades Cove, Dogwoods, Fire Canyon Arch, Fire Wave, Fog Bow, Grand Canyon, Greenbrier, Hopi Point, Little River Road, Natural Arch, Nik software, Ogle Cabin, Owl Canyon, Page Arizona, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Rime Ice, River time exposure, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Slot Canyon Workshops, Smokey Mountain Photo Workshop, Smokies, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Smoky Mountains Institute, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, The Watchman, Topaz Photo Software, topaz simplify, Tremont, Valley of Fire, Virgin River, White Rainbow, Zion National Park

Natural Arch, Valley of Fire – Processed using Topaz Clarity
Southwest Natural sandstone rocks are unable to withstand the blasting of strong winds and the slow dissolving away by rains of the cementing materials holding its sand grains together, the weakened rock allows an arch to form. Eventually they grow too large to support their own weight and nature will reclaimed these beautiful arches. For me they are some of the Southwest’s greatest treasures and I look forward to photograph them this November. We will spend the first two days of this November’s Southwest Photo Workshop Tour capturing this and other great images in the Valley of Fire.

Natural Arch, Valley of Fire – unprocessed image
To process this image of Natural Arch in Nevada’s Valley of Fire painted desert I started with Topaz Clarity Sunset II and then used Topazes Vignette in Lens Effect and then brought it back into Clarity and applied Interior Strong.
When I look at Natural Arch I see two Indians chiefs relaxing at the end of a day’s hunt and enjoying the moon before she sets for the night. The first chiefs head if on the left with a flat head with his finger that is the arch resting on his nose in thought. The second chief is the darker red bolder behind and to the right of the arch.
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Leave a comment | tags: Digital Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Photo Software | posted in Adobe CS6, Fire Canyon Arch, Natural Arch, Photographic Workshops, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Labs, Topaz Photo Software, Upper Antelope Canyon, Valley of Fire