2017 is going to be a great year of teaching and art fairs! Hope everyone gets out and enjoys the arts!!

Charleston, S Carolina – Photographic Workshop Tour                 

April 2 – 6 2017 $695.00, Limited to 8 Students

Charleston’s Gas Lights

Botany Bay – Boneyard Photographic Workshop Tour

April 6-7, 2017 $175/ Limited to 8 Students

Botany Bay’s Skeleton trees processed with Topaz Labs Star Effects

Smoky Mountains –  Photographic Workshop Tour                           

April 23-26 2017 $495.00, Limited to 8 Students

Spring Dogwoods at rustic cabin Smoky Mountains

Amalfi Coast – Photographic Workshop Tour

June 25 – June 30 2017 $1150.00/ Limited to 8 Students

Provence Photographic – Workshop Tour

July 2 – 6 2017 $1,150.00/ Limited to 8 Students

Sunflowers in Provence

Lake Michigan Lighthouse – Photographic Workshop Tour

Aug 13-16 2017 $345.00/ Limited to 8 Students

Big Sable Lighthouse – Ludington

Zion National Park and Painted Desert – Photographic Workshop

Nov. 5-9 2017 $695 Limited to 8 Students

Cottonwoods along the Virgin River

Southwest Slot Canyon – Photographic Workshop Tour

Nov. 9-11 2017 $350 Limited to 5 Students

Tumble Weed – Antelope Canyon – Camera raw

I Hope you rang in the New Year with peace and joy in your heart!!

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Charleston Photographic Workshop Tour 2-6 April , 2017

On this cold snowy morning in Michigan I have Charleston and its world famous gardens on my mind.

Charleston Spring Reflection 24×60

In early April Charleston turns into a photographer’s paradise. The formal gardens on the plantations and the gated gardens in the Battery are in there spring bloom and all of Charleston has splashes of color everywhere.
Last night using Lightroom and Topaz software I transformed three images from 2012 into this colorful panoramic. I used Topaz software to bring out the colors and contrast from the RAW images and then used Lightroom to do it’s magic stitching the images into this 24×60 pano.

All RAW images have to be worked on to give you the colors that was there when you captured the image. This is one of the RAW images used to make the pano in Lightroom and then transformed using Topaz software.

Charleston garden RAW Image

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Charleston Photographic Workshop Tour April 2 – April 6, 2017

Reclaimed Trees by the Sea – Boneyard Beach on Botany Bay Plantation

Composition is what makes an image great. How everything is placed in an image depends on where you place your camera.

“A good photograph is knowing where to stand.”

 Ansel Adams

Reclaimed by the Sea – Boneyard Beach on Botany Bay Plantation

The images of the trees reclaimed by the surf that we will capture during next spring’s Charleston workshop at the Boneyard Beach on Botany Bay Plantation will be amazing. There is no shell collecting on the beach which makes this pristine beach one-of-a-kind!

In the darkroom when we needed to bring out shadow areas we would make a variety of wands to dodge the shadow areas. When we needed to bring down the highlights we would expose the sky a second and sometimes a third time while fanning and feathering the edge between the sky and ground with cardboard sheets to give detail to the overexposed areas.

To bring the shadows out and the highlights down I blending 3 HDR files in Lightroom which brought detail into the shadows and highlights. To make the image pop I used Clarity my favorite Topaz software plugin.

Click here to get to my Links page for the 15% off discount code for any of the Topaz products

Charleston Church Steeples – April 3 – April 7, 2016

This beautiful city is known as the “Holy City” because of the abundance of churches on the city skyline. As they approached Charleston from the sea, the colonial sailors could see 20 church steeples. Charleston boasts over 400 places of worship of many different denominations throughout the city, religion is deeply embedded in this city’s rich culture.

This Steepled church in the historic Battery Park section of Charleston is one of my favorite to take clients to during the blue light hour.

Charleston Steeple – Battery Park

Charleston Photographic Workshop Tour
April 3 – April 7, 2016
$695/ Limited to 8 Students

Click here to get to my Links page for the 15% off discount code for any of the Topaz products.

South Carolina’s Botany Bay – Topaz Star Effects Program

Along the South Carolina coast there are stretches of shore line where the ocean has reclaimed some of the land and the trees stand in the water like skeletons from our past. These skeletons will stand for a while against the forces of nature but will eventually be toppled over to be reclaimed by the winds and tides.

Topaz Labs Star Effects helped to give me this nice starburst of the sun as it peeked out from behind the tree. The Star Effects software also brought out the halo effect.

To capture the dynamic range of this image I took three images. I used a three images burst setting the exposures for +2 stops,0, and -2 stops. This allowed me to blend the 3 images in an HDR program which gave me detail in the shadows and highlights.

Botany Bay’s Skeleton trees processed with Topaz Labs Star Effects

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Botany Bay

A few days ago I was able to spend a little time on this wonderful stretch of beach in South Carolina enjoying the sunrise with clients. What a great way to spend time during the Easter and Passover holidays.

Sunrise – Botany Bay

 Wishing everyone time with family and friends during the holidays.

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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A Photographers View of Charleston – eBook

I have finished an eBook of images from Charleston using the Topaz Labs software. I am using it as a promotional giveaway to help promote Topaz software and my workshops and would be grateful if you share it with your friends.

To download “A Photographer’s View of Charleston” click on the link below

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fa00odinw6cg967/A%20

Photographers%20View%20of%20Charleston.pdf?dl=0

A Photographers View of Charleston

Charleston is an American treasure, rich in our early history. This beautiful city shows visitors what southern charm and grace were like in the colonies. When you photograph the streets around Battery Park, you capture images of homes and churches that were built before the signing on the Declaration of Independence. Stroll through my collection of favorite images in this eBook.

Topaz Labs software plug-ins for Photoshop and Lightroom were used to give my images the finishing touches that make them sing and make you will feel like you are there.

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

 

 

Charleston spring location workshop March 29 – April 2

On cold winter nights like this I find my thoughts wandering to the warm shooting locations that I have planned for this spring. In late March and early April Charleston emerges from its winter sleep and explodes in vibrant color. Hope you are able to join me Charleston for early an early spring location shoot in some of Americas best gardens.

Southern Charm – Charleston Spring

In lightroom 5.7 I used the Develop module to for a few basic adjustments and then exported Southern Charm into Topaz Clarity to make this image pop.

Southern Charm – Charleston Spring – Raw adj. in lightroom

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Antelope Slot Canyon – Southwest Photo Workshop

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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Charleston’s Spring Photo Workshop

This morning Charlie W and I worked on a early morning reflection image he captured during last spring’s workshop in Charleston. Charlie’s composition and exposure were great and we only needed to spend a few minutes working in Lightroom 5.7 to make the image sing.

Live Oaks Charleston processed in Lightroom

On this cold winter night I am looking forward to capturing images and working with clients in late March and early April when Charleston’s spring colors explode.

Live Oaks Charleston unprocessed