CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

I have just spent the weekend at the Autodromo Internacional Algarve for the pre season collective test for the 2017 Michelin Le Mans Cup.   I had two big photoshoots to arrange, the first being the static shoot of the cars on part of the circuit with me six metres up in the air on a 'cherry picker'.  The second, and much more interesting, picture was the traveling / tracking shots of eight of the cars taking part in this year's series - four LMP3 and four GT3. I was strapped into a SUV and we traveled around the track at 60-80kph, which on the twists and turns of the Algarve track was fast enough! Here is the resulting video - Tracking Photoshoot from Fuji X Adventure on Vimeo . The video was shot on two GoPro Hero 5s.  The GoPro Hero 5 Session was placed on the underside of the rear door using a suction clamp facing rearwards.  The camera was set to record a time-lapse video.  The GoPro Hero 5 Black was set inside the car a...

Just before the green flag was waved to start last Sunday's 4 Hours of Estoril in Portugal, which was the final race of the 2016 European Le Mans Series, there was a short air display above the grid by a Pitts S-2B aerobatic biplane from the Portuguese team Aerobatica. Using the Fujifilm X-T2 and the XF50-140mm f2.8 I took some images as the display came over our heads on the grid.   I manually set the camera's shutter speed at 1/250s so that the propeller was moving, the the aperture to f10 and the ISO to 200 so that the camera's meter wouldn't be confused by the bright sky and under expose the aircraft.   I chose a shutter speed of 1/250s because if I had shot at a higher shutter speed the movement of the propeller would have been frozen and made it seem that the plane wasn't flying. The AF on the X-T2 followed the aircraft faultlessly. The website for the Aerobatica team can be found at www.aerobatica.pt   (website in Portuguese) and there i...

The season finale of the 2016 European Le Mans Series took place at the Autodromo do Estoril with a dramatic end to the year with the championship leading no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrrai retiring due to a gearbox problem, handing the European title to their nearest rivals at Aston Martin Racing. Alex Brundle (top picture) had already secured the LMP3 European title with his teammates Christian England and Mike Guasch (pictured below) and started the race from pole position.  But an incident between Mike Guasch and the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari after two hours of the four hour race meant the Anglo American trio failed to finish their championship wining season on a high note. In the pitlane I spotted Fabien Barthez, the former French goalkeeper and national captain, signing autographs.  Barthez is now a successful driver and team owner, competing in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series. AF Corse Ferrari driver Rui Aguas was also signing some autograp...

Last Saturday in Estoril Portugal the sun came up over the town bathing the Portuguese coast in a warm glow.  However on the horizon storm clouds were gathering and by mid morning the winds were howling and the rain was lashing down, which brought a halt to first Free Practice session of the 4 Hours of Estoril (see blog HERE ).  The weather was so bad that a container ship was driven onto the rocks not far from our hotel and had to be towed off by tugs. All landscape photographers know that the light just ahead of a storm front can be quite dramatic as the sun can light objects against a very dark sky. These images were taken at sunrise from the hotel balcony in Estoril using the Fujifilm X-T1 and the 50-140mm fitted with the 1.4x converter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts y...

The Fujinon XF16-55mm f2.8R LM WR is Fujifilm's second 'red badge' professional zoom and covers the standard 35mm focal range of 24mm to 84mm with a constant f2.8 maximum aperture.  This, along with the Fujinon XF50-140mm f2.8R LM WR OIS, makes up Fujifilm's professional zoom offering.   We have had a 50-140mm f2.8 since June and this lens lives up to all the hype and press coverage as it is a match for anything that the other manufacturers can produce in this focal length range with a fast aperture. So it was with interest that I tested the 50-140's smaller sibling to see if it can match the quality of the larger lens. There are a few physical differences between the 50-140mm and the 16-55mm (and we are not talking about physical size.  The 16-55 is a big lens but it isn't too big.  Unlike the 50-140mm, the lens extends when zoomed towards the long end of the zoom range.  This is a little disappointing for me as I expected the zoom function to be int...

Some Fujifilm products come with a WR label which stands for 'Weather Resistant'.  The X-T1 and the 16-55mm f2.8 and 50-140mm f2.8 lenses all come with this WR label but I always try to protect my camera gear from the weather as much as possible. However yesterday morning during Free Practice for the final European Le Mans Series race of the 2015 season the weather provided a good test to the WR claim.  I still had the cameras covered when I was walking but when shooting the camera and lens were exposed to the heavy rain and high winds. The conditions were certainly a challenge for the photographer as well and I think the cameras performed better than I did in the heavy rain and wind.  At least I know that the WR label on Fujifilm products actually means what it says.  I will still try to protect my gear as much as possible but if I do get caught out in bad weather in future at least I will have the confidence to know that the cameras will continue to functi...

Using the X-T1s Interval Timer function I took over 600 images of the LMP2 cars going through scrutineering using the XF16-55mm f2.8 lens fitted to the Fujifilm flagship camera.  I then put them together in Microsoft Movie Maker to produce a short 50-second timelapse video, which can be viewed here - 4 Hours of Estoril - Scrutineering Timelapse por ELMS The video was then uploaded to the official ELMS Dailymotion channel and also on the ELMS Facebook page, where it received over 70 shares in just a few hours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ...

One of the beauty of the Fujinon prime lenses are the fast apertures that allow you to shoot in low light without having to resort to pushing the ISO to the limit.   On Sunday evening we held the end of season awards ceremony at the Casino Estoril and the lighting conditions in the room could only be described as challenging.  While my photographers worked the floor around the room, I sat up on the first tier of tables using the Fujifilm X-T1 to get wide shots of the proceedings.  Using the 35mm f1.4 and 56mm f1.2 I was able to keep the shutter speed high enough to shoot without pushing the ISO higher than 800 for the entire evening. In the low light the AF on the X-T1 did struggle at times but a switch to manual focus solved this problem, and with the wonderful split screen in the viewfinder, manual focusing was very easy. Here are some of the shots from the ELMS awards evening. -----------------------------------------------------...

Here are some of the shots from the Circuit do Estoril in Portugal during the build up to the final round of the European Le Mans Series, the 4 Hours of Estoril. After qualifying the pitlane was opened for the thousands of Portuguese fans to get some photographs and autographs with their favourite drivers.  An hour later the cars were forming up on the grid for the start of the race. As part of the entertainment their was some traditional Portuguese folk music and dancing and a brass band performed on the grid. Here are some of the shots from the build up to the race today. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...