CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

  I have been flying a drone for commercial and personal work since 2018 and have held a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Permission for Commercial Operations / Operational Authorisation since April 2019.   In that time I have owned several DJI drones (Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, Phantom 4 Pro, Phantom 4 Pro V2, Mini 2). All of these drones can shoot 4K video which has been used for my clients but, apart from the Phantom, I have never been that happy with the still images coming off these drones.   However, in November 2021, DJI launched the Mavic 3 and, for me as a professional photographer, this is a game changer with regards to capturing aerial photographs with a drone. I am not going into a full in depth review of the DJI Mavic 3 as there are plenty of technical reviews available since the drone's launch and subsequent firmware update.   However, with it's micro 4/3rds main camera and an additional telephoto camera as well, the Mavic 3 is a big step up from the previous ...

Welcome back to the MacLean Photographic blog.  Sorry I have been absent for a while but I have been busy working on several projects for various clients.  Now is the time to bring the blog back on line and I hope you will join me over the next few months. Since passing the COPTRZ drone course in January 2019 and receiving the Permission for Commercial Operation (PfCO) from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) I have been busy putting together some projects to build up my experience and portfolio. This week I launched the MacLean Photographic Drone Services pages on the website giving visitors more details on the services on offer and some examples of our work undertaken over the past 12 months. A key part of this showcase of our work is the Show Reel, a two minute video showing some of the highlights from the past year. You can also view the Show Reel, and all our other videos, on the MacLean Photographic Vimeo channel . One of the plans I have during this ...

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...

I have been shooting a series of aerial videos of East Lothian and the Scottish Borders to promote the various locations that we visit during the MacLean Photographic workshops. The location at Seacliff has to rank as the favourite location as a destination on one of the workshops as it has a bit of everything.  The beach itself is a beautiful present of golden sand flanked at each end by a rocky outcrop. Seacliff Beach, East Lothian from MacLean Photographic on Vimeo . At the eastern end stands St Baldred's Cross which marks the beginning of the Firth of Forth and at the western end is the Gegan which boasts Scotland's smallest harbour.   The views from any part of Seacliff are fantastic with Tantallon Castle standing on the headland across the bay to the west and to the north is Bass Rock, a plug of volcanic rock jutting out of the sea, which is home to the world's largest colony of Northern Gannets from March until October. The aerial footage was taken ...

This is the second of the new MacLean Photographic Workshop promotional videos that I have produced and posted on to the VIMEO page.  This one was shot on a very short visit to Innerwick Castle earlier in the week.  Due to the strong winds I decided to keep the flight with the DJI Mavic Pro short and I will go back in the New Year to shoot a longer sequence. Innerwick Castle, East Lothian from Fujifilm X Adventure on Vimeo . More information on the 2018 MacLean Photographic Workshops can be found on the MacLean Photographic website at www.macleanphotographic.com   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

On the flight from Shanghai to Paris last Monday the Air France Boeing 777-300 I was on traveled over Lake Baikal and with no clouds to obscure the view I got my first look at the world's largest (by volume) fresh water lake. Located in Southern Siberia, Lake Baikal c ontains around 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water, w ith 23,615.39 km 3  of fresh water.  With  a maximum depth of 1,642 m (5,387 ft),  Baikal is the world's deepest lake. Using the Fujifilm X100T and the X-T2 fitted with the XF16-55mm f2.8 I captured these images from my seat at 40,000 feet above the earth.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. --------------------------------------------------...

I do a lot of flying with my job and when I head off on a long haul flight I book a window seat for two reasons.  If I want to sleep on the plane I wont get disturbed as much being away from the aisle and, more importantly, I can get a great view of the world from 40,000 feet. The latest trip is to Japan for the next round of 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship and I decided to go a few days early to see a bit more of this wonderful country before I have to go to Fuji Speedway for the race weekend.  I go to Japan on Qatar Airways, which means a change of plane in Doha, the capital of Qatar. I specifically booked a window seat on the left side of the plane because having flown Qatar Airways a number of times I know there is a great view of the city when taking off from the airport.  Because it was a night flight the city was going to be lit up like a Christmas tree and I wanted to capture this on the Fujifilm X100T. Here are the two best shots of the city of Do...

I do a lot of flying with my job.  This year I have taken in excess of 80 flights to destinations in Asia, North America, the Middle East and Europe and I never get tired of looking out the window at 38000 feet.  You get some great views and it's something I never want to take for granted. Last Tuesday I flew back into Edinburgh from Qatar and the skies over the Firth of Forth were clear, giving some great views over East Lothian towards Edinburgh. I usually take pictures on one of my Fujifilm X-T1s or the X100 but on this occassion the cameras were in the locker above my head and I decided to use the camera on the iPad Mini that I am typing this blog post on.    The first shot shows Prestonpans, with the remains of the Cockenzie power station at the bottom of the picture.  The second picture is on the approach to the airport and is of Leith Harbour with the bright sunshine bouncing off the water. I have just two more trips to Munich...

The Thames from 10000 feet One of the joys of my job is the travelling to distant lands but that means a lot of long haul flights, which can be a bit boring to say the least.  When I flew back from Shanghai via Abu Dhabi last November I relieved some of the boredom by experimenting taking pictures out of the aircraft window. Northern Turkey Now anyone who flies regularly knows aircraft windows are not the cleanest and the material they are made create some distortions.  However on this flight, while flying over Turkey, the light was just perfect and the windows pretty clear, so using my X100, with its near silent shutter, I captured some shots over northern Turkey. Later when we were coming into Heathrow, the aircraft had to circle over London and again the light was beautiful. Flying east over the Thames, I saw the Queen Elizabeth bridge at the Dartford crossing, so once again the steathy X100 was brought into play.  As ...