CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

  I have been flying a drone for commercial and personal work since 2018 and have held a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Permission for Commercial Operations / Operational Authorisation since April 2019.   In that time I have owned several DJI drones (Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, Phantom 4 Pro, Phantom 4 Pro V2, Mini 2). All of these drones can shoot 4K video which has been used for my clients but, apart from the Phantom, I have never been that happy with the still images coming off these drones.   However, in November 2021, DJI launched the Mavic 3 and, for me as a professional photographer, this is a game changer with regards to capturing aerial photographs with a drone. I am not going into a full in depth review of the DJI Mavic 3 as there are plenty of technical reviews available since the drone's launch and subsequent firmware update.   However, with it's micro 4/3rds main camera and an additional telephoto camera as well, the Mavic 3 is a big step up from the previous ...

Welcome back to the MacLean Photographic blog.  Sorry I have been absent for a while but I have been busy working on several projects for various clients.  Now is the time to bring the blog back on line and I hope you will join me over the next few months. Since passing the COPTRZ drone course in January 2019 and receiving the Permission for Commercial Operation (PfCO) from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) I have been busy putting together some projects to build up my experience and portfolio. This week I launched the MacLean Photographic Drone Services pages on the website giving visitors more details on the services on offer and some examples of our work undertaken over the past 12 months. A key part of this showcase of our work is the Show Reel, a two minute video showing some of the highlights from the past year. You can also view the Show Reel, and all our other videos, on the MacLean Photographic Vimeo channel . One of the plans I have during this ...

Just off the B9007 between Forres and Carrbridge in the Highlands of Scotland is the little known ruin of Lochindorb Castle.    Lochindorb means 'Loch of Trouble' and the 13th century castle was built by the Clan Cromyn on a man made island in the centre of the loch. On a recent visit to Forres I decided to stop off at Lochindorb to scout out the location for a future visit.  The wind had dropped completely and the loch was like a mirror, with the dark peaty water water perfectly reflecting the broken clouds above. I launched the DJI Mavic Pro to get some aerial footage around the castle as the only other way to approach the ruin is by boat.  The scene below the drone's camera was very etherial and I carried out a 15 minute flight to capture several angles and a few still images before landing the drone on the shore.  Being low down, and with only one angle from where I was flying the drone, I decided not to shoot still images with the Fujifilm X Serie...

I am working on a personal project with Barry Brunton, skipper of the Rockhopper of Percuel, a 32ft fishing boat that works out of Dunbar Harbour. The Brunton family have a long association with Dunbar stretching back to the 14th century with Barry's grandfather and great-grandfather fishing the North Sea and being the coxswain of the Dunbar Lifeboat.  Over the next few months I will be following Barry as he fishes the coastal waters around the South East of Scotland and I'll take everyone on a behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a fisherman in the 21st century. CLICK HERE to visit the Rockhopper of Percuel Facebook page ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. -------------------...

Wednesday was perfect drone flying weather so I packed the DJI Mavic Pro and headed out to Hailes Castle on the bank of the River Tyne near East Linton (no, not the River Tyne in the North East of England in Newcastle) to shoot the next promo video for the MacLean Photographic workshops. I did several passes of the castle from varying heights and also took some video clips using the new Fujifilm X-H1. On Thursday I was hosting a 'Beaches and Castles' workshop and we decided to head up to Hailes Castle for the afternoon.  Unfortunately the weather had clouded over so we shot long exposure images of the waterfall and some shots of the snowdrops in the trees. All of the shots below were shot on the Fujifilm X-H1 with the 10-24mm f4 or 50-140mm f2.8 lenses. For more information on the MacLean Photographic workshops CLICK HERE For more information on the history of Hailes Castle CLICK HERE -----------------------------------------------...

With a small amount of snow falling in the Lammermuir Hills and my 13-year-old Nephew, who is stying with us for the Christmas holidays, itching to see the DJI Mavic Pro drone in action, we headed up to White Castle near Garvald to capture some aerial video and some still images nearer to the ground. Snowfall in the Lammermuir Hills from Fujifilm X Adventure on Vimeo . In the biting wind we flew the drone for around 15 minutes before packing it away to concentrate on some still pictures.  In that time I managed to capture several sweeping shots of the landscape and also captured a 'drone' and 'helix' using the Mavic Pro's in built automatic modes. The stills were taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 with the XF16-55mm f2.8 while the aerial footage was shot on the Mavic Pro in 4K. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ...

This is the second of the new MacLean Photographic Workshop promotional videos that I have produced and posted on to the VIMEO page.  This one was shot on a very short visit to Innerwick Castle earlier in the week.  Due to the strong winds I decided to keep the flight with the DJI Mavic Pro short and I will go back in the New Year to shoot a longer sequence. Innerwick Castle, East Lothian from Fujifilm X Adventure on Vimeo . More information on the 2018 MacLean Photographic Workshops can be found on the MacLean Photographic website at www.macleanphotographic.com   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

Over the winter I am working on some new videos to promote the 2018 MacLean Photographic Workshops.  As part of this I have decided to include some aerial shots of the locations where the workshops will take place. One of the locations is Barn Ness Lighthouse so I filmed during my first test flight of the DJI Mavic Pro I have to get these aerial shots. Barns Ness Lighthouse from Fujifilm X Adventure on Vimeo . I will now be taking the drone to several of the locations around East Lothian and The Scottish Borders to get the shots I need to produce the new promotional videos. For more information on the 2018 MacLean Photographic Workshops visit the new website at www.macleanphotographic.com   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support thi...