CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

On Friday 1st July I am hosting the first Dunbar Photo Walk starting from the Bass Rock Gallery on the High Street in Dunbar from 6pm to 8pm.   This is a FREE event for anyone who wants to come along and join in and is for anyone with an interest in taking pictures with any sort of camera whether it is a mobile phone or the latest DSLR.  It's all about having a fun evening with a few tips on how to compose your images from yours truly The planned route for the 2 hour walk is below and will take in the John Muir Way to the west of the harbour, a walk around the two Dunbar Harbours and then along East Beach.  Depending on the time we'll stop by Dunbar Church before returning Bass Rock Gallery along the High Street. If you are interested in coming along to this event please sign up on the EventBrite page HERE

A few weeks ago I bought a waterproof housing for my Fujifilm X-T1 and tested in the local rock pools here in Dunbar ( CLICK HERE ).  I bought this DICAPAC Waterproof Case for the landing trip to Bass Rock that I had booked and the idea was to capture some underwater shots of the Gannets diving for fish which is thrown in the water by the skipper of the tour boat. Yesterday I finally got to try the new underwater housing in the Firth of Forth.  Now I need to explain how the housing was used. The DICAPAC case was attached to my Manfrotto monopod by the means of a Mini Clamp.  The monopod has a clip and this was attached to one of the connectors on the waterproof case and then I attached a Peak Design leash to the case which was then attached to my wrist.  There was no way that the camera and case was going anywhere should it become detached from the clamp. When doing my tests I found the case, which is airtight obviously, tended to flip up and point t...

This morning I took a boat out to Bass Rock with a view of taking my second landing trip in two years with the Scottish Seabird Centre.  This was actually my fourth attempt to do this trip as the previous three occasions were cancelled due to the weather.  With finger crossed I headed down to Dunbar Harbour this morning and all looked to be OK as we boarded the 'Fisher Lassie'.  However our hopes were dashed when the swell was too big and we couldn't land safely on the Bass so the skipper made the call to abandon the landing in the interests of safety, which we totally supported. Anyway there was an opportunity to circle Bass Rock and grab some images of the 150,000 birds that call the big lump of rock home. Using the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and either the XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 or Samyang 8mm f2.8 fisheye I set about capturing some images. Here are a few examples of the images I captured this morning.  I will be hoping to actually land on Bass Rock later this summer...

The 24 Hours of Le Mans, the greatest motorsport event in the world and a race that I am very proud to be involved at the FIA Media Delegate.  It is ten days of intense preparation and action and this is one of the reasons I have not posted on the MacLean Photographic blog for a while. I am still sorting through my images from Le Mans for various projects I am working on but here is a selection of different pictures taken on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 or X-T1 from trackside or in the pitlane that I have cropped into a 12:5 panoramic format in post production. I didn't necessarily take these images with a panoramic crop in mind but when viewed on the computer screen I immediately saw the potential of a 12:5 ratio image in each one. The images were taken on a variety of Fujinon lenses - XF10-24mm f4, XF16-55mm f2.8, XF50-140mm f2.8, XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6, XF90mm f2 - and a Samyang 8mm fisheye. ----------------------------------...

This morning a package arrived on my doorstep containing the Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fish Eye lens with a Fujifilm X Mount.  This ultra wide prime lens is far wider than the 10mm end of the Fujinon 10-24mm f4 zoom and gives 180 degree of coverage.  Of course a fish eye lens give a distorted view of the world, the trick is to find suitable subjects.  The first real test will be to capture subjects at next week's 24 Hours of Le Mans.  This blog is just my initial impressions and I will do a complete review when I have finished at working at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After unpacking the lens I put it on my Fujifilm X-Pro2 and headed down to Dunbar Harbour.  With the tide at its low point, the boats in the harbour were resting on their keels and it meant I could also get down low. The initial impressions of the build quality are very good, especially for a lens that costs just £212.  The lens hood is integral to the lens and can't be removed so the l...