CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

The second full Rockhopper of Percuel episode has been published on the MacLean Photographic Vimeo channel . In part two Skipper Barry Brunton explains the various controls, dials and screens he has in front of him in the Rockhopper's wheelhouse. As well as the controls and dials for the engines, he explains the chart plotter and GPS system, the auto pilot, a must for him as he is single handed on the 32 foot fishing boat, and the radios, including the emergency system. The video was shot on a Fujifilm X-H1, a GoPro Hero 5 Black and the aerial images on a DJI Mavic Pro drone. The Rockhopper of Percuel has a new web presence with the launch of the Rockhopper pages on the MacLean Photographic website HERE . The site has all of the Rockhopper videos shot to date, seven in total - two episodes and five 'shorts'. It also features a new online shop for Rockhopper of Percuel merchandise where you can purchase items such as baseball caps, cotton shopping b...

When out walking I usually have a camera with me and sometimes the most mundane object can provide a bit of artistic inspiration.   A couple of days ago I was walking down by the harbour here in Dunbar.  The old benches that line the harbour wall have been replaced with new ones. are a bright shade of blue and very striking.    Add in the newly painted yellow mooring bollards and the red sandstone of the 170 year old harbour wall and my camera was switched on and ready. I had brought along the Fujifilm X-T2, fitted with the XF18-135mm f3.5/5.6 zoom that I am testing,  and I set about taking a set of images that would show off the blue colour in the benches.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ...

Last month I decided to upgrade my trusty Samsung S5 to the new iPhone 6S plus.  In 2012 I had an iPhone 4S. While I wasn't a fan of the phone itself or the operating system, I did like the camera and the images it produced ( CLICK HERE for the feature).   Fast forward four years and I am now back to Apple for my phone.  One of the main reasons is the ability to link to my iPad and iMac and also the size of the iPhone 6S Plus makes it great for traveling with - it's almost a mini iPad. Anyway the camera is a big step up from the iPhone 4S and my Samsung S5 and I have been playing with the different settings for both stills and video.   I have found the panoramic function really useful as it is really easy to use and the results are great. Here are a selection of panoramic images taken on the iPhone 6S Plus ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...

This evening I hosted the first Dunbar Photo Walk and luckily the rain showers that had fallen for most of the day held off until the walk finished at 8pm. We were at the Victoria Harbour in Dunbar when the rain started to approach the town.  The black clouds certainly made for a dramatic backdrop to the harbour. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian and the Borders of Scotland.   CLICK HERE  for more deta...

Yesterday Fujifilm launched the latest edition to the Fujinon XF lens line up, the XF 2X TC WR teleconverter for use with the XF50-140mm f2.8 and XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 zoom lenses.  In April I was invited by Fujifilm to test the new converter and here are my thoughts on this new lens. Before I go into details I need to be upfront about something.  I've never been a fan of 2x converters because the optical quality of the lens is usually affected to a large degree.   I did have a 1.4x and 2x converter for my lenses when I was shooting with Nikon. While the 1.4x converter was regularly attached to my long f2.8 lenses, the 2x converter was probably used about three times in the 18 years I used Nikkor lenses.  I didn't like the results when using the converter so tended to not use it. Anyway back to the X-Series!  The 1.4x Fujinon converter was launched in 2015 and I have been a fan of this diminutive lens attachment on both the 50-140mm and 100-400mm....

After supporting the annual Dunbar Dip , I decided to take a walk back via Cromwell Harbour to get some shots of the fishing boats that were moored up for the Christmas break.  With the low tide the boats were resting on the bottom of the harbour and I was able to get down low to get some different images of the Dunbar fishing fleet. Cromwell is the older of the two Dunbar harbours, the other being Victoria, and is named after Oliver Cromwell who used Dunbar as a base for his troops in 1650. Also visible in the stone wall is the remains of old stairs known at the Johnny Cope Steps.  General Cope landed his troops in Dunbar in September 1745 just prior to the Battle of Prestonpans where the Jacobite army, led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart, more commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, defeated the English in the first major battle of the 1745 Rising. Cromwell Harbour is now a very peaceful place but very much a working harbour.  However there is plenty...