CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Fujifilm X-T4 + XF10-24mm f4 - Haida M10 1.8 ND + Red Diamond 0.9 ND Grad 1 second @ f11 ISO80 Last week I ran my first Black and White Landscape workshop of the year.  Like many businesses the Covid19 pandemic caused me a bit of a headache and I had to put my photo workshops on hold for three months.  The clients who had already booked workshops were offered a refund but I was happy when they said they would be OK to postpone and wait until I could rearrange the bookings with them.  The first workshop was a 1-2-1 with a client who was returning for her second one day MacLean Photographic workshop.  Fujifilm X-T4 + XF50-140mm f2.8 - Haida M10 1.8 ND 1/6s @ f8 ISO250 The workshop was held at Barns Ness and Tyningham, demonstrating the techniques on how to 'see' a landscape in black and white and expose the image accordingly.  This something I have learnt from experience and I now endeavour to teach my clients during the one day workshop. The...

This was one of the images I took yesterday while getting some winter storm images in Dunbar.  This shot is in fact six images taken on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and XF16mm f1.4 lens, taken in sequence and then stitched together using the 'photomerge' function in Photoshop CC to create a wider field of view. Once the images were stitched together I cropped it 3:2 to give it a standard size.  At 8121 x 5414 pixels the overall image was larger than the standard 6000 x 4000 I usual get from a straight image from the X-Trans III 24mp sensor on the X-Pro2. I then converted the image to mono using NIK Silver Efex Pro2 software, converting the image with one of the custom presets I have developed. I then did some dodging and burning to lighten and darken certain areas to increase the overall contrast of the image. Not long after I took this sequence of images the snow began to fall heavily again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------...

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...

This weekend I am in Germany for Round 4 of the FIA World Endurance Championship and after the thrills and spills of Le Mans, the WEC returns to the 6-hour format at the Nurburgring. I went trackside during the first two Free Practice sessions yesterday in my capacity as the FIA Media Delegate to shoot some images from various locations around the circuit to check that the access was OK for the other photographers.  I also had to get some images for FIA.com, the official website for the world governing body of motor sport, who I work for on the WEC. I decided that some of the images would look better in black and white so I convert them in NIK Silver Efex Pro2 in post production. All images were taken on a pair of Fujifilm X-T2 using various lenses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS P...

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. ------------------------------------------------...