CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Image taken on X-T4 with XF35mm f1.4 and a 16mm Extension Tube Macro photography is a fascinating subject but cost wise the equipment needed can be eye watering, but it doesn't need to be.  There are several options to produce a macro image. A dedicated macro lens Adding extension tubes to decrease the minimum focusing distance and increase magnification. Using close up filters MACRO LENSES Fujiflm make two lenses that are labelled as 'macro'.   The first is the XF60mm f2.4 R, one of the three original X series prime lenses launched in 2013 and the newer XF80mm f2.8 R LM OIS WR macro.  The 60mm is not a true macro lens as it doesn't reproduced images at a ratio of 1:1, it is a 1:2 (half size) lens, where as the 80mm is a true 1:1 macro lens. I bought a 60mm in 2013 alongside the 18mm f2, 35mm f1.4 and 14mm f2.8 primes when I bought the X-Pro1.  It was an excellent short telephoto lens.  It was a bit slow in the auto focus department but optical...

On Wednesday this week it will be four years since we moved into our current home in Dunbar on  Scotland's east coast and we are still discovering new places to visit locally.  Today was another first as we went for a walk in Pressmennan Wood, a Woodland Trust Scotland reserve near Stenton just outside Dunbar. While there has been plenty of snow in the Highlands and further south, East Lothian has not seen any of the white stuff, but it has been VERY cold, with the car showing minus 3 degrees as we headed into the hills outside Dunbar. The sun was low in the sky, as it always is at this time of year, which cast long shadows through the trees. Using the Fujifilm X-E3 I have on test until Tuesday I captured some images along our walk around the frozen lake.  The ice was very thin, you certainly couldn't stand on it, but it did make for some really nice images. I used the 23mm f2, 18mm f2 or the 90mm f2 prime lenses for the images on this page. CLICK HERE ...

The John Muir Way winds its way across the south of Scotland from Muir's birth place in Dunbar and ends in Helensburgh 133 miles away on the north side of the Clyde, which was the place that Muir family set sail for the United States. We have walked small parts of the John Muir Way, which isn't very difficult as it passes a few hundred metres from the front door of our house in Dunbar, but in September this year we decided to head out to a section of the pathway on the south bank of the Forth River, west of the road and rail bridges. The part of the John Muir Way we decided to walk was from Blackness Castle in the west along the side of the Firth of Forth, past Hopetoun House and onwards towards the beach near South Queensferry which gave a great view of the three bridges. We also had a view across the water towards the naval dockyard of Rosyth, where the new Royal Navy aircraft carriers are being built.  HMS Queen Elizabeth is nearly complete and will sail out ...

The Southern Upland Way is Britain's first official coast to coast long distance foot-path. It runs 212 miles (340 km) from Portpatrick on the south-west coast of Scotland to Cockburnspath in the east and just 9-miles from Dunbar, where the John Muir Way begins and takes walkers 130 miles (215km) to Helensburgh in the east. The route takes walkers through the beautiful village of Abbey St Bathans in the Lammermuir Hills alongside Whiteadder Water.  The path follows the river for a mile before heading east towards Cockburnpath. On Saturday I walked this small part of the Southern Upland Way and also through the village itself in the warm spring sunshine.  The colours of leaves and wildflowers were breathtaking and the only noise came from the wind in the trees, the bird song and the bubbling of the water on the rock in the nearby river. There are also some walks on the bank of Whiteadder Water that are not part of the Southern Upland Way but are worthy of me...