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Jean Glorieux - no3 DKR Engineering Norma M30-Nissan - 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup Drivers Champion Congratulations to Jean Glorieux who, along with teammate Alex Toril and the DKR Engineering team, secured the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup Driver and Team titles at his home track of Spa-Francorchamps. I took the opportunity on the grid ahead of the 120-minute race this afternoon to take some driver portraits as they prepared for themselves for the battle ahead. The images were taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 and the XF50-140mm f2.8. The files were then converted to mono using NIK Silver Efex Pro2 software. CLICK HERE for more information on the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup Tony Wells - no79 Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P3-Nissan  Adrien Chila - no65 Graff Ligier JS P3-Nissan Eric De Doncker - no98 Motorsport98 Ligier JS P3-Nissan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEAS...

Sometimes the most mundane objects can become a source of inspiration.   Yesterday evening while hosting a photo walk at the John Muir Country Park the grey skies were not providing me with any creativity and I was trying to find something that would provide the smallest spark. Near to the East Links Family Park we came across a stack of rails for the small railway that runs around the park through the animal enclosures.  These rails had been stacked and the light filtering through from the top set onto the rusting and eroded metal on the lower tiers were just the inspiration I needed. Using the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and XF50-140mm f2.8 lens I captured a set of images that looked great on the LCD and also on the iMac once they were imported into Lightroom.  I converted the images to mono using NIK Silver EFEX Pro2.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPO...

The  Glenfinnan Monument is located on the shores of Loch Shiel near the road from Fort William to Mallaig and commemorates the landing on the 19 August 1745 of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie and the gathering of the clans to his banner at Glenfinnan.  The Prince's landing began the disastrous Jacobite Rebellion, which ended at Culloden near Inverness in 1746 where the Highland army was decimated. The government troops, under the Duke of Cumberland, known as 'Butcher Cumberland, purged the Highlands to put an end once and for all Scotland's resistance to Hanoverian rule in London and any thoughts of the restoration of a Stuart King. The 18 metre monument was raised in 1815, with a lone kilted highlander on top as a reminder of the lives given by the clans of Scotland to the cause of the Stuart royal line. The monument is maintained by the National Trust for Scotland and there is also a visitors centre next to the car park. These image...

After the stop at the waterfall at the base of  Buachaille Etive Mor I got back in the car and drove a few miles into Glen Coe and stopped on the other side of the mountain where a small white painted cottage sits on the edge of the river. The clouds that had shrouded the top of the mountain had started to lift and I walked down to the river an set up the tripod to get some images of the scene before me. I also pointed the camera up stream and down the glen towards the mountains further along the A82.  The sunlight was streaming through the clouds creating light patches on the mountain side and in the clouds above. The images were shot on the Fujifilm GFX50S and the GF32-64mm f4 except for the image above which was taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 and 50-140mm f2.8, using the longer lens to highlight the clouds on the top of Buachaille Etive Mor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

While I have been busily testing the Fujifilm GFX I have not neglected the faithful X-T2 and this shot from last week's trip to Glen Coe jumped off the computer screen when I downloaded the images at the end of the day. I visited the base of Buachaille Etive Mor to take the well trodden path to the edge of the waterfalls.  I don't usually go for the 'standard' image, preferring to find a different angle, but I make an exception with the location because it is one of the most beautiful in Scotland. With the clouds still hanging low over the mountains I had to wait patiently for a break. I ftted the X-T2 with the XF10-24mm f4 wide angle and waited for the perfect moment.  The sun made a brief appearance, lighting up the waterfall and foreground while keeping the brooding mountain in shadow while framed by the white clouds. With the Lee 10x ND Big Stopper fitted to the lens the exposure was120s @ f16 ISO400. ------------------------------------------------...

Well here is the new beast for a three week test.  I'll be taking the Fujifilm GFX50S to Spa-Francorchamps and Monza for some pitlane / motorsport action and also up into the Highlands of Scotland for some landscape work.  I had seen the new camera when I had a meeting at Fujifilm HQ in Tokyo last October but I wasn't allowed to keep any of the images I shot inside the building. I used to shoot Medium Format back in the 1990s with a Fujifilm GA645 and a Bronica ETRSi and I used these cameras for landscape, portraits / weddings and even shot sport on the Bronica, so I was very much looking forward to giving the GFX a good test run. The camera has arrived with the three lenses that were originally launched - the 32-64mm f4 zoom (25-51mm equivalent), the 63mm f2.8 (50mm) and the 120mm f4 macro (95mm) - which gives me a range of lenses to use. Belhaven Bay - Fujifilm GFX50S + GF32-64mm f4R LM WR To test the camera out I went local here in East Lothian, out to ...

Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 - 1/800 @ f8 ISO200 On Wednesday I spent the day in the Scottish Borders, primarily to recce the area for the up coming Borders Rally on the 18th March and to also meet with a workshop client who wanted some advice.  It also gave me an opportunity to stop and take in the beauty of this area of Scotland. Fujifilm X-T2 + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 1/1600 @ f8 ISO200 Unlike on my recent trips to the Highlands, the Scottish Borders had received a covering of snow, especially on the higher ground, which made this wonderful landscape even more beautiful.  The Borders are not as dramatic as the Scottish mountain further north, but the high, rolling hills provide a different perspective for a landscape photographer to focus their lens on. Fujifilm X-T2 + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 1/250 @ f5.6 ISO200 With cloudy, grey skies, with some breaks forming to give a bit of texture, I decided to switch the Fujifilm X-T2 to ACROS fil...

Yesterday I went for a walk on Whitesands beach which a few miles east of Dunbar on the East Lothian coast.  There is a nice view from the west end of this small sand beach across the bay to Barns Ness lighthouse and it is one of my favourite locations for telephoto shots of the lighthouse. The light yesterday evening was very soft and pastel colours.  Fitting the XF100-400mm zoom to the Fujifilm X-T2 I took this shot of the lighthouse, using the short end of the zoom range to frame the image. I over exposed the image slightly to give a Hi Key effect and then I converted the image to black and white in NIK Silver EFEX Pro 2 software in post production after tweaking the RAW image in Lightroom and then Photoshop CC. The image was then cropped 12:5 ratio to give this finished panoramic image. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON TH...

The beauty of living in East Lothian is being able to photograph the scenery in all weathers.  While I love a beautiful sunrise as much as the next landscape photographer, you can't beat a good stormy day with lots of drama to get the creative juices flowing. Take this image for example.  This shot was taken on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and the XF100-400mm telephoto to compress the perspective, making Bass Rock appear to be a lot closer to my position in Belhaven than it actually is, which is about 7 miles away.  All I had to do was wait for someone to walk into the frame to give the image a focal point. The picture was converted to monochrome from the RAW file in NIK Silver EFEX Pro2 software using a customised preset that I have set up.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts yo...