CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

The River Tyne Estuary in East Lothian is at the western end of Belhaven Bay a couple of miles from Dunbar. The John Muir Country Park is on the eastern shore and Tyningham woods is on the west shore.    At low tide the mudflats and sandbanks are revealed and the estuary is home to a whole host of wading birds taking advantage of the abundant food sources along the shoreline. On the west shore the rock formations revealed by the receding tide are  fascinating  and a great source of inspiration for photography. Tyne Estuary + John Muir Country Park from MacLean Photographic on Vimeo . The Tyne Estuary and John Muir Country Park is one of the locations on the MacLean Photographic workshops. For more information visit  www.macleanphotographic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS O...

While out on the Woodland Exploration Workshop last Saturday we came across a couple of random objects that had been placed near to the beach at the River Tyne estuary here in East Lothian. The first object was an old Singer sewing machine that had been painted pink with the word 'LIFE' on the side and placed on the top of one of the World War II anti tank concrete blocks that line the woodland area just off the beach. The second item was an old draw front that had been had been painted bright blue with black metalwork and the words 'black' and 'submarine' had been written in black on each end. The draw end had been placed on one of the fallen tree trunks on the beach. I don't know the story behind why these objects were painted these bright colours and placed in this location, or to the meaning of the words written on the, but I have to be honest to say that I quite like this type of 'Guerilla Art'.  It certainly makes for a sligh...

Fujifilm X-T2 + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 250s @ f16 ISO200 This evening I headed along the East Lothian coast to Tyningham and the River Tyne Estuary at the western end of Belhaven Bay. The rock formations at the end of Belhaven are amazing and on checking the Tide Timetable I noticed that High Tide almost coincided with sunset, so I grabbed the camera bag and tripod to do some long exposure images on the shore line. Setting the camera and lens on the tripod I composed the image to include the rocky fore shore and some of the brightly coloured sky with fast moving clouds.  The four to six minute exposure time resulted in plenty of movement in the sea and the sky. Each of the the images were taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 and the 16-55mm f2.8 fitted with a Lee 0.9 soft ND Grad and the Lee 10x ND 'Big Stopper'.  Fujifilm X-T2 + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 361s @ f16 ISO200 Fujifilm X-T2 + XF16-55mm f2.8 - 291s @ f8 ISO200   ---------------------...

I went for a walk down to the Tyne Estuary today to take in the glorious spring sunshine before the Arctic weather returns tomorrow.   While walking through the woods to the beach I spotted some wild Primulas growing in the trees beautifully lit by the strong sunlit filtering down through the branches over head.  So I stopped to take a few shots on the X-Pro2 and XF100-400mm.   This super telephoto zoom lens is surprisingly good at focusing close in on the flowers and all of these shots are full frame, none of them are cropped. I also used the same lens and camera combination to capture a few shots down by the beach. The next MacLean Photographic Woodland Exploration workshop will take place on Sunday 22 May - more details HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE ...

Some dramatic light through the clouds during a walk on the beach at Tyninghame produced the perfect combination for the first black and white images of 2015.   The first shot above was taken using the Fujifilm X-T1 and the Fujinon 18mm f2 lens looking back along the beach towards the Lammermuir Hills in the distance.  The tide was out leaving the rocks exposed on the shoreline, which is a perfect feeding ground for the many species of wading birds. The next two shots were taken on the X-T1 with the 55-200mm zoom.  The first is of one of the many pine trees that line the shore at the edge of Tyninghame woods. The final image is looking east across Belhaven Bay of Dunbar in the distance with Dunbar Castle and the Leisure Centre on the left and Winterfield on the right above Belhaven Beach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS...

A winters day walk down to the Tyne Estuary as the tide was receding is the perfect way to unwind.  On the beach near Skittery Burn there are a lot of dead trees along the shoreline where the woods meets the water.  Over the years the beach has encroached into the woods, washing away the soil from the roots of the pines, eventually felling the trees.  The roots and trunks of these dead trees litter the shore and provide a great subject for black and white images. The shot at the top of the page was taken on the X-T1 with a Lee 10x ND filter fitted to give an exposure time of 80 seconds.  This produced the movement in clouds that were approaching the coast from inland.  The next set of images were also shot on the X-T1 and Fujinon 10-24mm f4 wide angle zoom and then converted to mono in NIK Silver Efex Pro2 software. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLE...

This morning I will be heading to Lisbon airport after a few days at the Circuit do Estoril for the European Le Mans Series in Portugal.  I have six days at home before the next trip, which is Round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Shanghai, China.   The schedule of seven races in twelve weeks, which began in the middle of September, is pretty 'full on' and includes trips to North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and concludes in South America. The reason I mention all of this is the reason for this post.  I live in the most beautiful country in the world, Scotland, and I feel very lucky to be able to experience the natural wonders of East Lothian everytime I am home.  I love my job and the fact I see and meet some wonderful people.  BUT it is very nice to be home in between these events and this morning I am looking forward to stepping out into the Scottish countryside later this week.  These images were taken on last week's wal...

The geology on the East Lothian coast is quite fascinating, even for someone like me who doesn't really understand the principles or the science, I see great photographic subjects all around here. Millions of years ago this area was a volcanic 'hotbed' and North Berwick Law, Traprain Law and Bass Rock are all very visual reminders of that turbulent volcanic history.  On a less grand scale you can see the different layers of rock exposed along the coast line, especially at Skateraw, Barns Ness and on the River Tyne estuary at Tyningham and Belhaven. During our beach walk on the Tyne Estuary last week before I headed to Japan I spotted some rock formations which had been left exposed by the low tide.  The patterns and shapes suggest this was volcanic mud pool as you can see the fossilized remains of the layers of mud and what appears to be bubbles in the mud at the top.   As I have already said, I'm no expert and I could be wrong, but this is what I see in...

Continuing my look at the ADV modes on the Fujifilm X-T1 I switched to the 'Toy Camera' setting. The following images were taken down by the Tyne Estuary in East Lothian before I left for my trip to Japan.   The TOY setting creates shaded borders as if you were taking a photo on a toy camera.  As with all ADV modes, the TOY images are only captured in JPEG and the following four pictures were straight out of the camera.  Once again I find myself questioning the commercial use for this setting and, to be honest, I drew a blank.  Even as a fun setting this isn't something I see myself using in the future because the images are flat and lifeless and certainly not in keeping with the MacLean Photographic style. While I can see a fun use for the ' Miniature ' and 'Partial Colour' settings, the 'Toy' setting is unlikely to get any further use while I own the X-T1.  Sorry Fujifilm, but this is the first 'thumbs down' review for ...

One of my favourite spots near to our home in Dunbar is the Tyningham Estate with long stretches of sandy beaches and walks through the woods which I have already written about on the blog many times.   On Sunday we went through Link Woods to the beach on the estuary of the River Tyne and walked along the edge of the water at high tide.  The trees come very close to the waters edge with a thin strip of sandy beach which is reminiscent of images from the Caribbean or Pacific islands you see in holiday brochures, even if the temperature is 10-15 degrees cooler - well this is Scotland. Both images were captured on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and Fujinon 18mm f2.  I decided to convert the shots into monochrome because I felt the strong contrasts suited a black and white image.  I applied a selenium tone as part of the conversion in Silver Efex Pro2. Today I will be travelling to Germany, heading to the home of Porsche for a meeting at the Headquarters of the German ...