Signet Ring

[Rob MacKillop]

Signet Ring by RobMacKillop, on Flickr​

Canon AE-1, Ilford HP5, and a little darkening...

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Pete.

 

[Andrew Cotterill]

I've been staring at this for 5 minutes now, can't for the life of me work out how you did that. an arresting picture. excellent

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Andrew. Well, it's a film shot in black and white, scanned, then opened in Elements, where it was darkened in Levels. I think I then put a thin black frame around it in Nik Colour. Nothing to it, really. I must say that the light was very strange that day, almost snowing but never quite making it. The water looked very black. The signets are all looking quite dirty at the moment, before their new feathers emerge. It was just a question of waiting for a good composition, and I took three shots. Had it been digital, I might have taken twenty, but with film I spend more time waiting for the right moment. I'm really chuffed with this one.

Now that I look at it, it could be seen as two photos, photoshopped, but it isn't...honest

 

[Kev Pugh]

I really should run some film through sometime soon, nice Rob

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Kev.

 

[Andrew Cotterill]

Now that I look at it, it could be seen as two photos, photoshopped, but it isn't...honest

I didn't think you had photoshopped it but the inky blackness of the water does look unusual, and the signet seems to float in nothingness. I'm used to seeing swans in a muddy light brown water

 

[Pete Askew]

It is the black hole-ness that I like about it Rob (sorry I only went for a HHF before, I was feeling poorly!).

Interesting comment about being more conservative about your use of film than digital (and fully understandable). I still find that I shoot at a similar rate using digital as I did with film (maybe slightly more if I preview something I am very interested in) and usually, if I take more than one frame, it is the first that is the 'best'.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Good comments, Pete. Actually, I've noticed that by taking more time shooting with film, I am now taking fewer digital shots. So my film experience is influencing my digital work. I imagine that if you grew up, so to speak, using film, you might well use digital in a similar way. My film experience was negligible before I got the X100, so I became snap-happy. These last two or three months I've been returning to film (with digital editing in mind) and it is beginning to make me rethink my digital shooting. All to the good, I would say.